Camp Salvatore
by iheartds
Summary: Damon grew up and worked on the ranch his whole life. Things were great and he couldn't be happier. Then one day a group of Teenagers some to camp that change his life.
1. Chapter 1

It was early in the morning when I rolled out of bed. We had campers coming in that morning and staying for the rest of the summer. I needed to get the horses brushed and fed before eight. I pulled on my jeans and a white shirt and hurried down the stairs to grab breakfast. I'd been doing this my whole life. My parents owned the place and when my dad passed away my senior year of highschool, I decided to stay and help my mom instead of going off to college. Now I was twenty three and still handling the horses. My parents had opened the ranch to teenagers years before I was one, it was supposed to keep teens out of trouble during the summer. I wouldn't know if it worked or not, since I was raised on the ranch and never really left. My mom was making breakfast in the kitchen when I walked in, it smelled amazing! There was nothing like farm fresh eggs and bacon for breakfast. I didn't have time to stop and eat much though. "You're behind schedule, you aren't gonna have time to sit down. You know that eating breakfast is important when you're going to be out riding horses all day." She scolded.

"Yes mom, I know. I'm sorry. I'll do better tomorrow and I'll eat a good lunch today." I said, grabbing a couple pieces of bacon and heading towards the door where I'd left my shoes. I shoved the bacon in my mouth, attempting to chew as I pulled on my boots.

I ran into the barn, to find my best friends waiting for me. "Goodmorning!" I called out to the horses and headed for the tack room to get my brush, curry comb, and hoof pick. I worked my way through the barn quickly, leaving the horses looking shiny and ready to ride. Then grabbed the wheel barrow full of alfalfa and fed them all. We had 11 horses, all of which I'd grown up with. My favorite though, was Mint, he was a dapple gray Lusitano. When he first came to the ranch, he was three years old and frisky. I spent hours working with him every day. Now, he was gentle and easy going, I saw him as my horse. I almost never let any of the campers ride him. They were rough on the horses and rarely knew what they were doing. I usually had to spend most of the fall trying to fix what the campers had screwed up. Mint snorted at me when I reached his stall to feed him. I made sure to slip him a treat before I walked away.

It was seven forty-five when I walked back in the house. The ranch hands were helping clean the kitchen up and set up breakfast for the campers when I walked in. "Damon, hurry up and shower. I need you back down here in fifteen minutes." My mom said as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"On it!" I said breaking into a run. I had a love hate relationship with the summer. I loved it, because there was more to do than sit around waiting for my mom to give me chores. I hated it because I had to deal with annoying teenagers who didn't want to be here. I showered faster than I had in a long time, threw on some decent looking clothes and bounded back down the stairs with a minute to spare.

"You didn't comb your hair." My mom whispered as the bus pulled up outside.

"It looks the same either way." I whispered back. She just shook her head and started out the door. I followed as I do every summer. I rolled my eyes as the campers got off the bus dressed in everything from shorts to skirts, and every one of them in tennis shoes, except for one. She was the last one off the bus and she actually looked excited to be here. She had on jeans, a blue cotton shirt, and boots. But that wasn't the only thing I noticed, she was petite and had curves in all the right places. Her brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. And she had brown eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. She looked at me and I quickly looked away. My mom had a strict rule about flirting with the campers. I rarely did, but she didn't want angry parents calling her at the end of the summer, complaining about me.

"Welcome to camp Salvatore!" Mom said cheerfully. "There is a check in desk to your right. Find your name on the list and sign next to it. It's important that everyone do this, so that we know how many we have and if someone didn't show. After you have signed in, you'll be given a cabin number, a counselor, and a name tag. You're only required to wear your name tag for the first week, so we can get to know all of your names. Once you've recieved those things, you may head into the main house for breakfast. After breakfast, we'll meet in the banquet hall to go over some rules and sign up for different activites. My name is Mary and this is my son Damon, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask." My mother then motioned for them to head to check in and I took a deep breath, from here, I wouldn't have a spare moment to myself all summer. I walked into the main house and grabbed my things for sign up which consisted of a clipboard, a list of responsibilites that came with horseback riding and pictures of all the horses on a posterboard.

I walked into the banquet hall and set my things up on my assigned table next to Daryl, who ran the pig pen. "Wanna make a bet?" I asked as I set my stuff down.

"We go through this every year, Damon. You're always gonna get more sign ups because people love horses. No bets." He said jokingly and went back to what he was doing. I was set up in no time, and had a moment to relax before breakfast was over. I sat down in my folding chair and pulled out my favorite book, Dracula, and read while I waited.

"This way please." I heard mom say and set my book down. The campers filed into the room and filled the benches in the center of the room. This was my job, I grabbed the list of rules and headed onto the small stage.

"Hi, I'm Damon, but you already knew that. Hope breakfast was good." I said seriously but got a few giggles. "Alright, so everyone's favorite thing, the rules." I said sarcastically and got a few more giggles. " Rule number one: the upstairs in the main house is off limits. Rule number two: You are free to roam the ranch in your free time, but do not interact with the animals without an adult. And no none of you are consideredan adult. Adult here is over the age of 21." Total silence, usually someone whines about that one. "Rule number three: Leaving the ranch is a no no. We are held responsible for anything that happens to you, so no missing kids. Rule number four: Please listen to your instructors carefully. In order to keep you safe, we need to you to do as we say. Some of these animals can be dangerous in the wrong situation. That's it for the rules, any questions?" I hate this part because the questions are always stupid. If you ask me there is such a thing as a stupid question. Several hands go up and I prepare myself mentally. I point to a guy in the back who looks like he just wants to give me shit.

"Why is the upstairs off limits? What's up there?" Like we keep something amazing upstairs.

"My bedroom is up there, and it's off limits because I'd rather not have a bunch of kids going through my stuff." I say sarcastically. My mom shakes her head at me. "Seriously though, it's nothing special. No need to be up there." I repeat. I point to the next one, a blonde haired girl, sitting next to the one I noticed getting off the bus.

"How old are you?" She asks, clearly trying to flirt.

"Twenty three." I say, making it a point to not make eye contact with her. "Any questions about the rules?" I try to get them back on track.

"What happens if we leave the ranch?" I always get that one, someone hoping they've found a way to get kicked out of camp.

"You get to muck out the horse stalls for a week." The guy groans and no more hands go up.

"Alright, moving on. Breakfast is at eight, activites start at eight thirty. Lunch is at twelve followed by an hour of free time. And dinner is at six. Bathrooms are located near the cabins. If you'd like to shower, I'd suggest you get up early or hurry back from dinner. There are also two bathrooms in the main house. Using the restroom before starting an activity is suggested, because if you have to go during, you'll likely miss something. You'll meet with your counselor at eight every night and that is immediately followed by lights out at nine. There is no wandering around the ranch after nine as it is dark and you could be hurt. You're dismissed for sign ups, please do so in an orderly fashion and try not to trample each other." I salute them and climb off the stage, heading to my table. My mom signals the okay sign to me and I smile, cause that means no lecture later.

The first three to my table are the brunette, the blonde, and another chick. All three are giggling and whispering to each other. "We wanna sign up for your activity." I look at her nametag.

"Caroline, go right ahead. If you have a preference for your horse. Their pictures and names are posted here, you can request the one you like. No garuntees though." She smiles and writes her name on the paper and lists the horse, Bambi. I smirk, cause his name suggests that he's small and cuddly, when really he's huge, not that you can tell from the picture. She steps to the side and the next one to sign up is Bonnie. Bonnie picks Red, who is a gentle laid back old man. Then the brunette steps up. I read her name tag and smile, Elena, a very pretty name to match a very pretty face.

"Elena, which horse will it be?" I ask trying very hard not to flirt.

"Ummm, how about Starlet?" She asked tentatively.

"She's a sweetie, you'll really like her." I inform her. She signed her name and wrote down the horses name. The three girls move on to another table and I get the rest of my group signed up. I had twenty five signed up, now I just need to seperate them into groups. I took my stuff and headed out to the barn for orientation. I was waiting in the aisle when everyone who signed up walked in.

"Welcome to the barn. You'll be spending half your day here, all summer long. This is the most time consuming part of the ranch, next to planting and harvesting crops. Half of you will come in the morning, the other half will come in the afternoon. Five of you will unfortunately not be in this part of the program. You'll find out tomorrow if you are one of those five. Follow me and I'll introduce you to all of the horses. I took them down the aisle, starting with Mint and ending with Red. "You'll be responsible for cleaning your horses stall, keeping your horse clean and exercising it." I led them into the tack room and showed them the tools they'd be using and explained the proper way to use them. "Remember with a horse, you always comb with the fur, not against." After I was done with Orientation, I headed back to the main house to pick my group at random, which always took a little while. Lunch was in an hour, so I needed to get started.

I sat at my desk looking at my list, it went as follows:

Elena-Starlet-Nick

Bonnie-Red-Elijah

Caroline-Bambi-Rebekah

Jeremy- Bart-Mason

Zach- Comet-Tyler

Vickie- Zinger-Matt

Kol- Cotton-Stefan

Anna- Rocky-Lexie

Rose- Sunfire-Enzo

Jenna-Slider-Ric

I grabbed the paper and went down the hall to my mom's office. "You finished your schedule already?" She asked surprised. I usually handed it in late at night.

"Yep, here it is." I told her proudly, handing it to her. She looked it over and smiled.

"How many of them got the horse they requested?" She asked looking at me over her glasses.

"Twelve of them did." She always told me to try to please as many kids as possible.

"Very good. Alright, you're free the rest of the day." She informed me and I did a fistpump. Mom just rolled her eyes as I left the office. I went back out to the barn to exercise Mint. I walked him out of the stall. I only had thirty minutes and wanted to get out there as soon as possible. I saddled him and hopped on before leaving the barn. When I walked out, Elena and her friends were walking by on their way to the barn that held the cows. I smiled and nodded, before moving into a trot and heading to the feild. I picked up the pace at a canter and took off across the field. I loved to feel the wind whipping through my hair. When we reached the other side of the feild, we turned and moved into a gallop. I leaned forward, holding on tight with my legs. I felt like I was flying and there was no better feeling. We did one more round and came to a stop by the fence, where Elena was sitting on the fence watching me. I walked my horse up to where she was sitting.

"I get the feeling, you already know how to ride a horse." I said smiling. I dropped Mint's reigns and he put his head down, breathing in deep breaths of air.

"I've been riding since before I could walk." She said happily.

"Hey, me too. Aren't you missing lunch?" I asked curiously.

"I'm about to head that way." She said patting Mint on the shoulder. "He wasn't on the board." She commented.

"He's my boy. I started training him at the age of three, when I was nineteen." I explained. "I'm headed to the barn, but I'll walk with you back to the main house." I offer. She nods and hops down off the fence. I walk Mint out the gate and climb off. I take his reigns over his head and start walking back, Elena falls in step beside me.

"So, have you been on this ranch your whole life?" She asked, looking at her feet as she walked.

"Yep, my mom and dad used to run it together. Then when dad passed away, I took over for him. One day, I'll let my mom retire and I'll run the place." I explained.

"I'm sorry about your dad."

"I was nineteen, I had Mint to help me through it."

"Mint, that name suits him." I smile at her and she smiles back. We walk in silence the rest of the way. I stop Mint in front of the porch to the main house and turn to face her.

"If your quiet about it, no one will notice that you're late." I tell her.

"Okay, I'll be sneaky." She says quietly, then leans forward and whispers in my ear. "Thank you." I nod and she walks inside.

I took Mint back to the stables, brushing him down before taking him back to his stall. Then I headed outside to grab the wheelbarrow and pitchfork. I went from stall to stall cleaning each one and dumping it behind the barn. Then I put fresh sawdust in each stall. By the time I was done, I smelled horrible and was sweaty. But it made me feel accomplished. I walked back into the house to find it mostly empty. There were a few kids hanging out in the rec room, but other than that, they'd all headed to the cabins. I went upstairs to shower for the second time that day and then went back downstairs to have a late lunch. My mom always saved me some leftovers when I missed a meal. I took the plate out of the fridge and stuck it in the microwave. I stood leaning against the counter, my feet and arms crossed. "I saw you outside talking to Elena." I heard her voice before I saw her. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a stern look on her face.

"Don't worry mom, I know better. She was outside and I wanted to make sure she didn't miss lunch." I explained, because I had no intention of letting it get any further than it did.

"The way she was whispering in your ear. These are teenagers, minors, they are absolutely off limits. The whole camp could be shut down if you make one wrong move." My mom knew me well enough that she knew that I wouldn't do something like that, why was she so worried?

"Mom, I wouldn't do that." I remind her again.

"I saw the way you looked at her. And Damon," She said before I could argue, "If you want to get involved with someone and settle down, you're free to leave this place whenever you're ready." She said calmly. She'd tried to convince me to go off to college years ago. But I didn't want to just leave her here all alone.

"I know mom, but I'd rather be here with you." I reassured her.

"Okay, I'll let it go a little longer, but I want grandkids some day. Don't put it off too long." She gave me a look and went to the fridge to pour me some milk. I took my plate out of the beeping microwave and went to the table. My mom brought me my milk and a spoon and fork. She'd made pork chops, mashed potatoes, and green beans for dinner. I smiled, knowing how good her cooking was. She kissed me on the top of my head and left me to eat.

The sun was starting to go down and the horses were all fed and watered. Tomorrow, we would start the actual camp, it was after eight, so the campers were with their counselors right now. I always wondered what they talked about. Was it normal teenage drama, or did they do crafts and sing songs? I walked down to Mint's stall and handed him a treat, then started the walk back to the house. That's when I saw Elena and her friends, sitting outside their cabin, talking about something. Elena saw me too and we made eye contact for a second, she didn't stop smiling about their conversation, but she held my eyes for a moment. I smiled at her and she gave me a little wave, then looked away. I walked inside and went upstairs to get ready for bed. I had my pajama pants on when I saw the light on in the stables, I hadn't put on a shirt yet, but all the campers were in bed anyway. I shrugged and started back downstairs, I could've sworn that I'd turned that light off. I reached the front door before my mom made an appearance. "Why is the barn light on?" She asked, also in her pajamas.

"I guess I left it on." I said, still trying to remember if I had or not. "I'll go turn it off, go back to bed." I said opening the front door.

"Okay." She turned and headed back upstairs. I walked quietly and quickly out to the barn. I really needed to get to bed, I had an early day tomorrow. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was that the light was coming from the tack room. The second thing I noticed is that someone was talking, somewhere in the barn.

"Hello?" I whispered, and it got quiet. "I won't tell anyone that you're out here. I just want to make sure everything is okay." I say a little louder.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause problems. I was just visiting with Starlet." She walked out of the shadows and blushed ten different shades of red.

"Elena." My mind went blank for a minute. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I thought I'd left the light on." I explained.

"Why are you apologizing, I broke the rules, not you." And then I remember that she's right.

"You can spend a little more time with Starlet. I won't tell anyone, just turn off the light, so no one knows." I tell her and I realize that my mom was right. I need to stop my mind from even going there. "I wouldn't try this again though, next time I might not be the one that finds you." I warn her and turn to walk away.

"Wait, Damon, will you sit with me. I really hate the dark." Every part of my mind is screaming no! But that's not what comes out of my mouth.

"Only for a minute. I could get in a lot of trouble if we're caught alone together." I tell her as I reach into the tack room and flip the switch. Elena lets out a little squeal. "Let's go out behind the barn so the moon gives us some light and we'll talk." I said, talking her hand and leading her out of the barn. We walked to a hay bale in the back and sat down, it was only then that I realized I was still holding her hand. I let go slowly, and then used my hands to move further onto the hay bale. "So, what were you and Starlet talking about?" I ask curiously, trying to ease the tension.

"My sister." She states simply. So she has a sister.

"Your sister? Is she here?" I ask curiously. I hadn't seen anyone who looked anything like Elena.

"No, but she was supposed to be. I got lucky because they let me sign her in and pick her activities, she called on the way here and told me she wasn't coming till tomorrow. She always does this to me. I wanted to go to camp and my parents suggested she come along. You know what she said?" I could tell by her tone of voice that it wasn't good.

"What?" I ask anyway.

"Sure, I bet there'll be a lot of hot cowboys. I saved for a whole year to come here and my parents just pay her way because she does exactly what they want all the time. She's a cheerleader and makes perfect grades. My grades are almost as good as hers, but because I'd rather read a book or ride a horse, my parents think that I'm wasting my time on activites that won't help me get into college." She rants and I just let her.

"Reading will totally help you get into college." I point out, somewhat confused.

"Not the books I read. It's all supernatural stuff, my parents think it's the devil's work. I can't tell you how many of my books they've thrown away." She says defeatedly. I shake my head and think for a moment.

"Do you want to go to college?" I ask curiously.

"Not really. I want to get married and settle down, have a few kids. And I want to own lots of horses. I could spend all day on a horse. But none of that really helps you make money." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and stares at her feet.

"It does here. It's a grand per kid for the summer. We have sixty kids right now, that's sixty grand, just for the summer. But we also have a couples retreat in the spring and the fall. We get about forty couples, and that's another sixty grand for the fall and spring. The winter is the only time we don't have any money coming in." Elena is grinning the whole time I'm talking. "Of course you have to factor in costs of help, and feed, and food. After all that, there's enough to pay bills, make repairs, and a little spending money. But I think it's worth it, which is why I've never left the ranch." I realize that I'm rambling and stop myself.

"You are an interesting guy." She says but doesn't elaborate.

"We should get to bed, we have to be up early." I suggest, even though I could spend all night out here.

"Yeah, okay, I'll see you in the morning. I'm gonna walk myself back so we don't get in trouble. Well, so you don't get in trouble." She says smirking.

"Sometimes, being an adult sucks." It slips out before I can stop it. The look on her face says it all. Fuck!

"Goodnight, Damon." She says simply, then hops down and walks away.

"Goodnight, Elena." She's too far away to hear me now, but I say it anyway. I hurry back to the house, hoping that my mom is asleep and already thinking up excuses for taking so long if she isn't. When I walk inside it's dark so I quickly make my way to my room and plop down on my bed. Tomorrow was gonna be great


	2. Chapter 2

I was up before the sun, on my way to feed the horses, when a red convertable corvette whipped into the driveway, throwing up a cloud of dust. I just stood there, completely shocked, and waited for the dust to clear. I heard someone mumble, "It's too fucking early to be driving." She got out and she was all tan legs and curves. But when I saw her face, I nearly fainted.

"Hello?" I managed to say, trying to get her attention and I knew that this had to be Elena's sister. Apparently her twin sister.

"Hi." She said turning towards me, a mischevious grin on her face. I took a step back as she walked up to me. She was wearing a jean miniskirt, a black tanktop, and high heeled boots. Her hair fell over her shoulders in waves.

"Can I help you?" I ask, ever the polite gentleman. She smiles sweetly and steps a little closer.

"I'm Katherine Gilbert, I'm here for camp. My sister was supposed to sign me up." She explains.

"Right, Elena. Umm, let me go get your schedule and cabin number." I tell her, leading her into the main house. I take her into my mom's office. Which is technically breaking the rules, since its on the second floor. I looked through the papers on mom's desk until I found a packet with a sticky note stuck to it with Katherine's name on it. When I looked up to hand it to her, her face was just inches from mine. I hand her the papers and take a step back. "I've gotta go feed the horses, You should go find your cabin and get settled." I say, inching my way towards the door.

"Right." I swore she was glaring at me, but I didn't think too much about it. Instead I walked out of the office with her hot on my heels. This was going to be a long summer. Once we were outside, she seemed to give up and we went our seperate ways. I walked into the barn and went to get the wheel barrow. By the time the horses were fed, the sun was coming up. That was my cue to go take a shower, breakfast would be starting in an hour. I was walking back to the main house when Elena fell in step next to me.

"Goodmorning." She said cheerfully, a huge smile on her face.

"Morning." I reply frowning. "What's got you so happy?" I ask.

"Katherine showed up a little while ago, and she's pissed cause some hot guy shot her down. I have a feeling that I have you to thank for that." She says happily.

"Uh, you forgot to mention that Katherine was your twin sister." I point out, still in shock from the Elena look alike.

"Oh, yeah, um, identical even. But we're seven minutes apart and technically I'm the oldest." She says proudly.

"How old are you exactly?" I'd been wanting to ask but felt like it was an out of place question.

"I'm seventeen, but I'll be eighteen on the twentieth of July. Why?" She looks at me quizically.

"Minors." I mumble to myself, reminding myself to keep my hands off. "I was just curious. I should go shower, I smell like horses. I'll see you later." I say quickly and take off towards the house. I don't look back because I can feel Elena's gaze on me. I practically run up the stairs and into my room. Maybe I was getting to old to help run this camp. I grabbed my clothes for the day and head into the bathroom. I decide to take a cold shower, because this summer was like my best worst nightmare. Two of the hottest girls I'd ever met and they look exactly the same. Honestly, I like Elena a lot more than Katherine, she was so much nicer and struck me as innocent. Katherine scared me a little. I'd had the occasional girlfriend over the years, locals, but I'd never met anyone like Elena. I stepped into the shower, letting the cold water shock my body back to normal. After my shower, I headed downstairs for breakfast. Normally I ate with the campers, but I had a feeling that this summer I would be eating alone in the kitchen.

"Goodmorning, Damon. Glad to see that you're up on time." My mom says when I enter the kitchen.

"Morning mom. I think I'm gonna eat in the kitchen. I wanna get out to the barn and spend some time with the horses." I tell her and lean against the counter.

"Nonsense, you need to go spend time with the campers. Get to know them, you'll be spending the next three months with them after all." She says, totally oblivious to my obvious distress.

"Okay." I say defeatedly, there's no arguing with her. I walk into the dining hall and make a beeline for the food. I keep an eye out for Katherine and Elena, hoping they won't spot me. I finish getting my food and look for an empty chair. My stomach turns when I realize the only one is next to Elena...and Katherine. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before heading that way. They both look up when I reach the table, I smile and sit down, setting my plate on the table. Elena is the first one to speak.

"You guys remember Damon, the riding instructor?" She says and everyone nods.

"What are we doing this morning?" Bonnie asks and I thank the lord for nametags, which I notice is absent from Katherine's shirt.

"Uh, well, we're gonna start with brushing the horses and cleaning stalls, then we'll saddle up and ride in the arena a little bit." I take a bite of my waffle and everyone is just staring at me. I lean closer to Elena and whisper, "Why are they looking at me like that?"

"You just told them they had to clean up after horses. Don't worry they'll get over it, just give it a minute." She whispers back.

"Are we gonna get to go fast?" Caroline asks excitedly. Another disappointment.

"No, gotta start slow, not everyone's ridden a horse before." I point out and I feel a hand touch my knee. I know I'm blushing and I squirm uncomfortably but try to keep my cool, it's definitely Katherine. I moved my leg away, but bump into Elena, who gives me a funny look. I bite my tongue, not wanting to know what kind of revenge Katherine would get on me.

"Caroline's never ridden a horse before, so it's okay." Bonnie tells me. I'm thinking in the back of my mind that mom wouldn't approve of me sitting at a table full of girls.

"Trust me Caroline, you want to start slow." I reassure her and try to take another bite. Katherine must have gotten the message because she removed her hand and started picking at her food. Elena just keeps looking at me like I'm crazy. I just look at her and smile, like everything is perfect, which just makes her frown more. After I finish eating, I dart out of the dining hall and run for the barn. I reach Mint's stall, huffing and puffing, trying to catch my breath.

"You sure left in a hurry. Are you okay? " It's Elena, she must have followed me. I motion for her to follow me to the back of the barn. As soon as we're outside, I round on her.

"You're sister was touching me during breakfast!" I blurt out unintentionally. Elena just stands there in shock. "I'm sorry, I should have kept that to myself. You should go do what campers do. I can handle this. I'm really sorry." I apologize and walk towards the hay bales.

"Damon. She does that all the time. I'm glad you told me. I can get her to stop, let's just sit down and take a deep breath. You still have thirty minutes before anyone comes out here." She says calmly and I sit down, she joins me after a moment. "I know that we're minors. But if you're interested in Katherine, she turns eighteen next month." And I swear my jaw drops.

"I'm not interested in Katherine." I state, kind of offended that she thinks I would wanna be with someone like that.

"Oh...I'm sorry...I just thought-"

"No! I'm interested in you." I cut her off and then immediately regret it. "I shouldn't have said that. What the fuck is wrong with me? Normally I can keep my thoughts to myself. I've never met someone in the camp who gets to me like this. "I...uh..." She just stares at me. "Fuck!" I start to get up to walk away, when her warm hand wraps around mine, pulling me back down.

"For both of our sakes, I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." She whispers and I put my head in my hands. "I'll call off my sister and we'll spend less time together." She suggests and I sigh.

"I don't want to spend less time with you and that's my problem. My mom has no tolerance when it comes to me and the campers. It's a complete hands off, no flirting kind of deal. I'm just gonna have to ignore it." I stood up and walked away, again. I went into the tack room, to get ready for my first group of riders. I pulled out all ten tack boxes, labeled with the horses names and set them in front of their stalls. Then I sat down on one of the benches and waited, Elena had never walked by, She must have gone around the side of the barn to meet back up with her friends. I silently thank god that Katherine isn't in either of my riding groups.

When my first group walks in, they're all chatting happily and laughing. I clear my throat to get their attention. "Alright, settle down kiddos." I say jokingly and the barn goes quiet. "We're going to start by cleaning the stalls. This is to teach you responsiblity, get you comfortable with your horse, and also to teach you how to safely handle a horse." I've got their attention now. I scan the crowd, reading the name tags and putting them with faces while I talk. I recognize Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline right away.

"You will be using a pitch fork in a small place, with a large animal." Jeremy is an emo, punk looking kid, but he looks like he's decently smart. Zach seems kind of passive and not really caring about what was going on. Vickie looked like a trouble maker, I was going to have to watch her. "Who can tell me which areas to avoid?" I ask just to see who knows what. Several hands go up.

"Anna." I had hardly noticed her before, she was a tiny thing but she looked like she might actually be interested in what we were doing.

"Depends on the horse, but sometimes the teeth, and always the back feet." She answers knowingly and I smile. Kol is another one who seems like he didn't want to come here in the first place. Rose is somewhat interested, as is Jenna. This group wouldn't be too bad, by the end of the summer, we'd all be best friends.

"Very good. And she is so right, you always walk way around the back end or you go around the front. Luckily for you guys, none of my horses bite. But if you provoke them in any way, they just might. So treat them nice, please." I motioned for them to follow me out back and take them to the manure pile and wheelbarrows. "These are the wheelbarrows you'll be using and the pitchforks are hung on the wall over there. Go ahead and grab one of each and I'll explain to you how this works." I watch as they all do as I say, coming back to stand in front of me again. "It's super simple, scoop up the manure, gently shake out the clean sawdust, dump the manure in the wheelbarrow, then wheel it back here and dump it in the pile." I explain, because in the past, I've had teenagers who were confused.

I sat on the bench in the barn aisle supervising as they got to work. The funniest thing about this part, is the reactions they have to the horse suddenly turning around. None of the horses here have ever kicked anyone, they're super gentle. But everytime a horse moves, a kid flinches and tries to move away. It takes them a good thirty minutes to finish cleaning. "Not bad." I say as they stand in the aisle proudly. "We'll have to work on getting that done a little faster." I leave out the part of adding clean sawdust, leaving it for the afternoon group. "Go put your stuff away and we'll brush the horses."

Brushing the horses took almost as long, each kid trying to be really thorough. But they looked really shiny when it was all said and done. I really liked this group, they were giving me any crap, but we hadn't ridden the horses yet. I helped them find their horses saddles and bridles, get them on the horses, and then I saddled up Mint, because I would need him for this part. "Are you guys ready to ride?" I ask, as I walk down the aisle, placing the horses reigns in its riders hands, and unhooking the lead rope keeping them in place.

"Yeah!" Some of them say excitedly, others just shrug. I return to Mint, who I left standing in the aisle, I don't have to tie him up anymore. "Hold onto those reigns and lead your horse, gently, to the arena." I tell them and lead the way. So far, so good, no runaway horses. There's a step stool inside the arena that I'll use to get each rider onto their horse. I glance at my phone to check the time. We still have about an hour. I throw Mint's reigns over his neck and leave him to help the kids.

"Who wants to get on first?" I ask and several hands go up. "Caroline." I skip Elena, cause she already knows what she's doing and I don't want any of the other kids to think something's going on between us. Caroline nervously walks her horse up to the stool, making sure it's on the left side, like we talked about while grooming the horses. "Alright, get up on the stool." She does so carefully, eyeing the horse warily. I showed her how to hold the reigns and saddle to stable herself and swing her leg over. Then I showed her how put her feet in the stirrups and the correct place for her heel. When that was said and done, I explained how to steer the horse. I made sure to speak loud enough so that all the riders could hear me. Then I told her to gently tap him with her heels, and the horse started walking. "Get familiar with the way he moves, walk in big circles around the arena. Take it slow and get used to him. A gentle tug on the reigns and the word 'whoa' will bring him to a stop. Always be mindful of your actions, do not hurt your horse or you can and will be done riding for the summer. Okay, one at a time, the rest of you mount your horses and lets get this show on the road." I say going back to stand by the stool.

I get the rest of them on their horses and then I get on my horse. We play follow the leader and make figure eights. I teach them how handle their horses properly. Everyone is concentrating hard, except for Elena. She actually looks bored. I smirk at her as we cross paths, cause I get it, and she rolls her eyes. I wink at her in a promise that there will be more and it'll be a lot more fun. She smiles and continues to follow my boring directions. The hour goes by quickly and then I'm teaching them how to get off of the horse. Finally, the horses are back in their stalls, groomed, and resting. "You have half an hour, I suggest you all go shower, because there is no other smell like the smell of horses. You'll get used to it, but your friends who didn't sign up for this, they'll think you stink." I joke and get a few laughs. "See you all tomorrow." They start filing out of the barn, talking about their horses, and what scared them and what parts they liked. Elena, though, hangs back to talk to me.

"Not bad, Damon. No one got hurt, I'm impressed." She says smiling and shoves her hands in her jeans pockets.

"I'm just lucky I have such great horses." I say modestly. "I'm sorry that was so boring for you." I know she's a better rider than that. I consider the idea of having a beginners class and an amateur class. I start cleaning up the aisles and setting up for the afternoon class.

"It's worth it to be on a horse again." She grabs a rake and helps me clean the aisle.

"So, are you gonna tell me the rest of your story?" It sounds like there's something she didn't tell me.

"I had a horse, Monkey, for years. My parents got him for me for my seventh birthday. He was my best friend." She starts and I suddenly regret asking.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want." I say quietly, secretly wondering what happened.

"No, it's okay, it was a few years ago. I was riding him through the pasture, like I always did. And he spooked...I couldn't figure out what it was that scared him, cause he was always really laid back." She pauses and takes a deep breath. "There was this crack and Monkey went down." My heart sinks, cause I already know what happened. "Some hunters were out hunting deer and a bullet missed its target. They hit him in the heart, I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye." A single tear is rolling down Elena's cheek. I drop my rake and wipe it away with my thumb. "My dad was pissed, not because of the horse, but because I could have been shot instead. All he kept saying was that he was glad it was the horse and not me. I was fourteen, I wanted it to be me, not my horse. Anyway, since then, I haven't so much as looked at another horse." And that's where I was confused, because I thought she saved her money to come here.

"Then what possessed you to come here?" I ask. She smiles and laughs a little.

"I was looking at some old pictures about a year ago. I had reached the point where the memory of Monkey didn't break my heart anymore. I just remembered how powerful he was and the wind whipping through my hair. Spending every waking hour with him during summers, and I missed it. I was online a few days later, when I came across the website for this place. After that I was determined that I was going to save up and come out here. So, here I am." She said making eye contact with me for the first time since the night before.

"I'm glad you came." I say softly and then I can't stop it, my hand reaches out and brushes a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. And in that moment, I'm lost to her, I could just stand there and stare at her all day. Luckily, she bends down and picks up my rake, handing it back to me. We get the aisle clean and start the walk back to the main house. "You're going to smell like horse for the rest of the day." I point out, she spent her shower time with me.

"I don't care, other people can deal, I missed it." She says defiantly. And it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. "God, I'm starving though. Sit with me?" She asks innocently, walking backwards in front of me.

"Just this one last time." I warn and she laughs at me.

"Sure. Like you could stay away from me." She teases and I stick my tongue out at her.

AN: I'm having so much fun writing this story. Hopefully I answered some questions in that chapter. I'm hoping to have at least one update a week, so this chapter was a up kinda fast. Hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am, I've never done a TVD that wasn't canon. Thanks for the reviews!


	3. Chapter 3

I'm dead asleep and the house is quiet, it's almost three in the morning. For some reason, my eyes pop open and I sit up in bed. We're four days into camp and things had gone great. I'd gotten used to both of my groups, I'd managed to keep my hands off of Elena, even though a good friendship had developed already. I'd even managed to stay away from Katherine, who was constantly trying to get closer to me. Both groups had moved from walking to trotting and were doing it well. I figured that by the end of the week they'd be cantering. I look around my dark room, wondering why I woke up so suddenly. I don't see her at first, but I can feel her and smell her perfume. My eyes finally adjust and she's standing in my doorway with a look on her face that suggests she's going to change her mind at any second. "Elena?" I whisper and her eyes lock with mine.

"Damon, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be, what's wrong?" I interrupt her and then wave for her to come over. She tentatively steps into my room and then crosses to my bed quickly, like the floor is going to burn her. I pat the edge of my bed and she gives me a worried look. "Don't worry, my mom sleeps like a rock, I'm the light sleeper. She figures I'll rat out whoever comes up here. She didn't count on you though." I say jokingly and Elena smiles. "So, what did you need?"

"Well," Elena bites her lip and fuck me, I want to do it for her. "I wanna go ride, really ride. I was hoping you'd take me." She says shyly. Horseback riding in the moonlight...sounds pretty fun. I don't usually have time for things like that. I still shouldn't, since I have to be up at five. I look at the clock, I've got two hours.

"I'll take you but then you're running the lessons this morning." I joke and she laughs. I hold my finger to her lips, not wanting to wake my mom up. She gets really quiet and I usher her off the bed. She moves so quietly and I wonder where she learned to do that. I get up and start searching for my jeans, which in the dark isn't easy to do. I finally turn to Elena cause I can't find them. "Do you see my pants?" I ask and even in the dark, I can tell she's blushing. She points to the chair and I see them behind it. I walk over and pick them up. I'm dressed a moment later.

I take Elena by the hand and quietly lead her out of the room. We get down the stairs and out the door with no problem. We reach the barn and Elena busts into a fit of giggles. "I love this, I don't ever sneak around after curfew at home. No wonder my sister has so much fun." I chuckle and lead the way into the tack room.

"I have a feeling that your sister doesn't sneak out to ride horses." I joke and hand her starlet's saddle. "Are you going to be okay, riding in the dark?" The feild is pretty safe, but I just want to be sure.

"I don't know, you might have to ride with me." I swear a shiver runs down my spine, but she's totally serious.

"I'll ride with you, give me that." She hands me back the saddle. I put it back and grab Mint's saddle and bridle. We get him saddled quickly and lead him out to the field.

"Let me help you up." I offer, holding out my cupped hands. She smirks and then laughs. She gently moves my hands aside, grabs hold of the reigns and saddle, sticks her foot in the stirrup, and swings her leg over. "Show off." I grumble, climbing up behind her.

"You should hold on." I can hear the humor in her voice and I chuckle.

"Okay." I wrap my arms around her waist. This is totally inappropriate, but I don't want to let go. I was probably going to do jail time because of her. I breathe in her scent and my whole body starts to react.

"Ready?" She asks but her voice has changed, can she feel it too? I nod and then realize that she can't see me.

"Yeah." My voice comes out a bit more raspy sounding than I want it to, but she doesn't react to it. Instead she taps Mint with her heels and he takes off. I realize as he gets going, that this was a really bad idea. My body rocks against hers in steady rythm and it takes all my self control to keep my body in check. The moonlight is reflecting off of Elena's hair and even from behind, she takes my breath away.

"This feels amazing." Elena says just loud enough for me to hear and I smile. If we could actually get away with dating, this would be an amazing first date. And some how, even though its early in the morning, I kind of feel like we're on a date. Was this her plan the whole time? "You're so quiet. You never shut up when we're riding during the day." She comments and I realize that she's right, I've barely said two words since we left the barn.

"I'm sorry. I've just never had anyone to spend time with. It's always been me and my mom. It's really nice to just be with you." I reply and she is quiet after that. We ride to the far end of the field and she pulls Mint to a stop. "What are you doing?" I ask confused, I thought the whole purpose of this was to really go for a ride. No instructors telling you how fast you could go and no fences to keep you coraled.

"I thought we'd just hang out for while." She says shyly and I can picture her biting her lip again. I know it's a bad idea, but I want it so bad, to just be alone with her without worrying about who's watching.

"Okay, but just for a little while." I give in and climb down off of Mint. Elena swings her leg over and I grab her hips, gently lowering her to the ground. She turns around to face me and suddenly we are way too close. I take a shaky breath and step away. "There's a bench over this way." I say pointing to the nearby line of trees. She takes the reigns over Mint's head and follows me to the bench.

"Wow, this has a really great view of the ranch." She says in awe when she turns to face the field.

"Throw his reigns over his head, he'll wait for us." I tell her and she does as I say. We sit on the bench and things are a little awkward at first. "So, this is weird, huh?"

"Totally, and I've been dying to get you alone too. You really struck me as the bad boy type when I first met you." She teases.

"I'm totally a bad boy." I defend.

"Whatever, you're a well behaved mama's boy." I look at her in mock shock.

"Oh, your gonna get it now." I growl, I could tell that Elena was holding back a scream as she took off towards the field. I caught up to her in no time, and wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground.

"Let go of me!" She whispered loudly. I let her feet hit the ground, but I tickled her mercilessly until she was turned around facing me. And suddenly the atmosphere changed, it was really quiet and very tense. Her cheeks were flushed from running and her eyes were locked on mine. She was leaning closer and I knew that I should stop her, but...

"Elena." I whisper.

"I know." And our lips meet. It's slow at first, her tongue slipping into my mouth, massaging mine. Her hands gripping the sides of my shirt, my hands tangled in her hair, holding her to me. I want more, so much more, but it's too soon. So, instead, I grip her hips, pulling her to me. Her body is flush up against mine and she lets out a soft moan. I smile into our kiss and then pull away. "Please." She whispers, her eyes still closed.

"Elena." I say, a little louder and her eyes open. Her cheeks are still flushed, but not from running. "We can't."

"Just a little more. I just want a little more." She pleads and I smile bigger.

"I want all of it." I whipser in her ear and she shivers. "But you're still a minor." I add.

"You are a major tease, Damon Salvatore." She says quietly, leaning her head against my chest. I don't want to burst our happy little bubble, but it's getting too close to five and someone could see us.

"We have to get back, but we'll meet again soon. I promise." She's looking up at me now, and I can't resist. I lean down and brush my lips over hers and she melts in my arms. "Come on." I say, pulling away. She nods and we silently walk back to Mint, who is waiting patiently.

The ride back is too short, but I savor every moment of it. I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as we walk back into the barn. I sincerely begin to wish we'd met a different way, after her upcoming birthday. If we had, I would have taken her in that field, enjoying every second of it. I send her back to her cabin, not even giving into a kiss. Then I clean Mint up and return him to his stall. Once I'm sure that things look like they did before I went to bed, I sneak back into my room. I strip out of my clothes once again and climb into bed. It's four-thirty and I can only get another hour of sleep at the most, but I take it, because the pain of being away from her is too much to take.

I wake with a start at five-thirty, my alarm blaring loudly in my ears. My mom knocks on my door. "Get up and turn off that horrible noise." She grumbles and I do as she asks. The night before feels like a dream and I don't want to get out of bed. I'm afraid that I'm going to come to the realization that it was a dream and nothing more. I go through my morning routine of feeding the horses and getting ready for the campers. Then I drag myself inside for breakfast. I fill my plate and start looking for a place to sit, Elena's not there. I walk into the kitchen, suddenly feeling quiet grumpy and plop down at the kitchen table. My mom walks in a minute later to wash some dishes. "What's gotten into you?" She asks, immediately picking up on my mood.

"Rough night, I didn't sleep well." I tell her and take a bite of my eggs.

"I told you to stop reading those silly books so late into the night. You need your sleep, Damon. And you know I'd be alright if you decided that you couldn't do this anymore. I've got tons of help, I can find someone to work with the horses." I shake my head.

"Mom, I want to be here. I'll be fine and I'll try to get more sleep tonight. I just needed a moment to myself. It'll be fine." I take another bite and my mother nods, but I can tell there's something on her mind. She doesn't tell me what it is though, instead, she leaves the kitchen. I finish my breakfast so I can have a little time in the barn without the campers. I wash my plate, to save someone the trouble of having to do it. Then I practically jog out to the barn, but I stop dead in my tracks when I realize that Elena is standing in the middle of the aisle. "You weren't at breakfast." I have to know if it really happened, it's killing me.

"Neither were you, at least, not when I was there." She says walking slowly towards me.

"I didn't wait long enough. I should have known you would sleep in, I did." She smiles and she close enough to touch now, but I don't.

"Last night..." She starts and then stops.

"I kissed you." I finish and she nods. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. It did happen, it wasn't a dream!

"You did. I want you to do it again. We have thirty minutes, come on." I don't even try to resist, I follow her out of the back of the barn. I throw my arms around her, holding her tight. All the of the tension in my body dissipates as she hugs me back.

"I thought it was a dream." I tell her, my face burried in her neck. Her perfume invading my senses, She smells like jasmine.

"I did too, especially when you weren't at breakfast." She tangles a hand in my hair, pulling gently. I pull back and then my lips crash down on hers. This time is more fierce and full of need. I back her into the wall of the barn, pressing my hips into hers. My hands are sliding up under her shirt when I hear talking inside the barn.

"Shit! Elena run around the side." I tell her and somehow she manages to come out of her lustful fog and take off. I try to make myself look less like I was about to get into a girls pants. I walk into the barn just as Elena walks up behind the group walking into the barn.

"You guys are a little early." I comment as I collect myself mentally.

"We wanna ride in the field." Bonnie said and that's when I remember that we were leaving the arena today.

"Right, today's the big day." I feel foggy still and I'm trying to shake it off.

"Dude are you okay?" Jeremy asks and sounds genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, it's just lack of sleep." I lie...partially. "Alright, well, let's get going then. You guys are cleaning stalls tomorrow, so get your horses ready to go. Let's see who's been paying attention." I say clapping my hands and then walking into the tack room to breath.

I couldn't let that happen again. My heart was still pounding from the rush of adrenaline I got when we were almost caught. I most definitely didn't want to go to jail. I was going to have to tell Elena that we couldn't kiss during the day. For the most part she did a great job covering it up. At that very moment, she was readying her horse and talking to her friends like nothing had happened. Caroline walked in to get her saddle and gave me a strange look. "Something's up with you, I can tell." She commented, grabbing her stuff.

"I'm fine really." I lie again.

"You look like you're going to be sick. Maybe you should go see a doctor or something." She suggested.

"I promise, I'm fine. I just need to keep moving." I said, straightening up and following a shrugging Caroline out of the tack room. I got Mint ready to go and then waited while some of the campers finished up. They were catching on quickly, with the exception of Tyler. But I let that go, because some are meant for it and some are not. Tyler did well enough that I knew he could handle the field. We mounted our horses just outside the barn and rode out to the field at a trot. As we passed by the main house, Katherine was sitting on the steps, she made eye contact with me and winked. I made it a point to look the other way. Once we reached the field, I stopped them at the gate.

"Okay, the field is fenced in, but it's a pretty big field. If your horses takes off and for any reason you can't stop, yell my name and hold on tight. These horses don't spook easy and none of them are off a racetrack. So there shouldn't be any problems. Remember what we've been learning and go out there and have some fun." I purposely took them to the field before they were cantering, because they are less likely to get hurt at a trot. I was going to give them thirty minutes in the field and then it'd be back to the arena, to start learning to canter. It was usually at this point that kids would fall off or get scared. I was curious to see if this group was any different, because so far they had been.

"Permission to go faster, sir." Elena joked, riding up next to me as I entered the field. I rolled my eyes and then had a great idea.

"Permission granted, lets race." I told her with a twinkle in my eye. She grinned and nodded. "On your mark...get set...go!" We took off at top speed across the field and suddenly we had everyone's attention. They'd stopped riding to watch us race. We were neck and neck at first, Elena giggling happily, and then Mint picked up speed and the class started cheering.

"Go Damon!" One of them called. I eased up on Mint so he'd slow down. Starlet was quiet a bit smaller than him, so it wasn't really a fair race. Starlet caught up quickly and then passed Mint just as we reached the other side of the fence. We slowed down to a trot and turned around.

"No racing this time, let's just enjoy it." I told her and we took off again, this time following the fence line, most of the campers trotted after us, really enjoying themselves. I was going to miss this group by the time the summer was over. After we worked in the arena, I set them up to bathe their horses. And let's just say that I didn't think that through, cause what happened next was enough to send a man's ego through the roof.

AN: I know, it's cruel to leave it hanging like that, but I write these chapters late at night and on my lunch break. But the way this story is going, you can expect to see another update tomorrow, so no worries. I love the reviews, you guys are awesome! Feel free to make suggestions too! See you guys tomorrow :)


	4. Chapter 4

I had the hose out and ran the water over Mint, then I handed it to Caroline. She hosed down her horse, mimmicking me, and then shocked the crap out of me. Sh gave me this mischevious grin and pointed the hose at me, I barely had time to react. Next thing I know, someone is passing out buckets and they're filling them with water. An all out water war started, luckily it was outside the barn by the time the water was being thrown, cause the horses would have spooked. I finally got them to calm down, since the horses were standing in the aisle. "We have lunch in thirty minutes, you guys aren't going to have time to change!" I yelled, trying to hold back my laughter.

"Oh my god!" And all eyes were on me. The guys were rolling their eyes, but every girl in my group was blushing and that was when I remembered that I was wearing a white shirt. I pretty sure I blushed too, but I got myself together quickly and motioned for them to follow me into the barn. We finished washing the horses, the girls whispering and giggling the whole time, and headed out to change quickly for lunch. I changed into a blue shirt this time, in case the second group got any ideas. Then I took a note I'd written to my mom's office and set it on her desk. Then I bounded down the stairs because at this point I was starving. We were having burgers and fries and I couldn't wait. I grabbed my food and sat down at Elena's table, only this time, I sat next to Bonnie and Caroline. The table got quiet the moment I sat down and I rolled my eyes, teenagers!

"So, Damon, how often do you work out?" The question came from Elena, I gave her a playful glare.

"Everyday, when you guys aren't here, I ride all ten horses every day." I explain and took a much too big bite of my burger. They giggle and went back to eating their food. Before I got up to throw out my trash, I winked at them, setting off another fit of giggles. I went back out to the barn to get ready for the second group. I'm taking this group to the field tomorrow, so we don't over work the horses. I make sure the grooming stuff is set out and I go through and feed each horse a treat. Then I stop at Mints stall and pull him out to start grooming him before the campers showed up. I had him shiny and soft by the time they walked in the barn.

"I heard that the last group dumped water all over you this morning. Do we get to have a water fight too?" Nick asked, walking over to Starlet's stall and petting her through the bars.

"You know, somehow it's different when it's a bunch of girls. Go grab your wheelbarrows and start cleaning." I instruct. I grab a wheelbarrow with them, so I can clean Mint's stall. We finish up with cleaning stalls and grooming horses and head out to the arena. It's funny to watch the kids canter, they try to hold on for dear life all while trying to have good form. I work along with them, to show them what they're supposed to be doing. They try their best to immitate me, but it's a lot to take in in one day. By the end of the summer most of them will have it figured out. But I can tell who has real talent, based on how they sit on the horse. Lexie and Elijah will pick up on everything we do the quickest. Stefan is a close second to those two. Alaric is trying so hard, but he's one that isn't meant to ride a horse. Two weeks from now I'll have them going over cavaletti's, Elena will love that. We finish up and get the horses put away, I'm not much in the mood for company that isn't just Elena, so I decide to eat in the kitchen.

"Why do I keep finding you in here? You're getting along so well with the kids this year." My mom says as she hurries into the kitchen, clearly looking for something.

"They're great mom, I just need some time to myself sometimes. I'll eat with them again tomorrow, I promise." I reassure her, taking a bite of my fried chicken.

"Alright, just don't be too antisocial. For some reason, this group really likes you. I need that to keep business going." She hurries back out of the kitchen and I finish eating while reading my book that I grabbed before dinner. My next move was to take a shower and then pass out for a solid eight hours. I rinse my plate off in the sink, when Bonnie walks by dropping a piece of paper on the counter. I look at her in confusion and she zips her lips and locks them. I open the folded piece of paper and smile.

Dear Damon,

Meet me in the barn at midnight.

It's not signed and for good reason. I stuff it in the garbage disposal, turn the water on, and flip the switch. Now no one will ever know there was ever a note. I hurry upstairs to take a shower, looking forward to our secret meeting. But I can't lie, I'm a little concerned that she told Bonnie. She didn't seem like the type to tell anyone, but I didn't know her very well. I was gonna have to trust Elena's judgement on that one. I decide to put my pajamas on and just lay out my clothes for later, just in case. I pick a black button up and black jeans, clothes that I save for the off season. I slip into bed and open my book back up. I read a good chunk of the book and then turn the light off when my mom walks by. I pretend to sleep for at least an hour before quietly getting out of bed and changing. I carry my shoes down the stairs and slip them on outside the house. I walk quietly and quickly to the barn, but it's dark and quiet when I get there. I walk through the barn, straining my eyes to find her. I'm passing the tack room, when someone grabs my sleeve, pulling my inside. She shoves me up against a wall, gripping my shirt, and her soft lips are on mine. I melt into our kiss, my hands coming up to hold her hips. Then she pulls away and my eyes finally adjust to where I can just barely see her. "Hi." She whispers happily.

"Hi." It comes out a little breathless. "You wanted to see me?" Was this another romantic evening or was there something else going on?

"Yeah, about that, umm...something happened." I can tell by the look on her face that it isn't good.

"What?" I ask, concern lacing my voice.

"My sister, she kind of, figured it out. She knows about us." My heart stops and I want to walk away and not look back. If I went to jail, this would be over for at least five years. Not to mention it could ruin Elena's bright future. She struck me as the type to sit around and wait for me to get out. "Don't freak out though, she isn't going to tell anyone." She says hurriedly, rubbing a hand up and down my arm. I feel like I'm hearing her through a tunnel.

"She knows." I repeat, still in shock.

"I have so much dirt on her, I blackmailed her into keeping her mouth shut. I'm coming up with a plan for making this work, if you're interested." And I'm back.

"Elena, I want this to work, but we have to stop meeting. At least until your birthday." I ran a hand through my hair, still feeling a bit panicked.

"Okay, then this will be the last one until my birthday. But don't give up on this, okay?" She asked now standing a few feet away from me. I nodded and walked over to her, wrapping her in my arms.

"I'm sorry I freaked out." I say kissing the top of her head.

"It's ok, I did too." She says laughing a bit. We walked out behind the barn and sat on a bale of hay.

"Okay, some ground rules. No touching, period, end of discussion. No midnight meetings. If we wanna talk it has to be in front of the other campers. If for any reason, I get carted off by the police..." I can see the worried look on her face already, but I continue, because this is important. "Act like you don't care. It looks less suspicious if you do nothing." She nods, but her eyes are tearing up. "No, none of that. Dry them up, this is very important." She nods and wipes her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, I can do this. Do your really think that will happen?"

"If Katherine really doesn't say anything, we'll be fine. We need to get some sleep though, so let's head back and I'll see you tomorrow morning." It's so fucking hard, but I don't touch her as we get up and walk through the barn.

"Can I just have one more kiss, before we have to...you know..." Her eyes are pleading with me and I can't say no to her. I take her by the hips, turning her towards me. I lean in close to whisper in her ear.

"Enjoy this, because it's gonna be a while." She shivers and I press a kiss to her neck and then the corner of her mouth. When I reach her mouth, her eyes are closed in bliss. I run my tongue over her bottom lip, seeking access. She lets me in and I massage her tongue with mine. She lets out a moan and she pressing her body into mine, causing my body to react. My jeans feel way too tight and I want to do so much more, but it's time to let go. When I pull away, her eyes are still closed, and her cheeks are flushed. "I'll see you in the morning." She nods, her eyes opening to stare after me as I walk away.

I slept restlessly, tossing and turning, bad dream after bad dream. When I woke, I just wasn't in the mood for anything. I got up and pulled on my clothes and shoes. I walked out to the barn, fed the horses, and got things set up for the day. I ate at a different table and the girls at Elena's table just looked at me questioningly. I did my best to ignore them. I threw my trash and headed out to the barn to wait for them. The next couple of days went on this way, and by the end of the week, I was absolutely miserable. My mom approached me in the kitchen one night, a look of concern on her face. "Damon, sweetie, whats going on? You haven't been yourself lately."

"You don't want to know, trust me." I say flatly and she takes my drink out of my hand and sets it on the counter.

"What's wrong?" She asks sternly. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I'm behaving myself, that's what's wrong."

"Which one?" And it's that voice that I've tried to avoid all my life and I so do not want to tell her. But the look on her face tells me that if I don't tell her, she'll beat my ass.

"Elena." I say quietly and her face goes from angry to enraged. "Mom, I said I was behaving myself, total hands off approach. I promise it will stay that way. I just...I haven't ever met anyone like her." I leave out the part where I think she's gorgeous, cause that will just make things worse. "But, I Know the rules, and she's a minor. So, nothing to worry about." I pick up my glass from next to her and walk out of the kitchen, leaving my mom speechless in the kitchen. I was in my room reading my book, when my mom walks in and sits down on the edge of bed.

"I'm not mad, I get it, probably more than you know. When I fell in love with your father, I was a minor. I wanted so badly to just be with him. The temptation is ridiculous. Why do you think I stress the need to keep your hands off so much? It'll work out, just be patient. Two more months of summer and you don't have to worry about the camp anymore. When is Elena's birthday?" I'm shocked at the words coming out of my mother's mouth. Is she seriously suggesting that I wait till camp is over and then go after Elena. I don't even know where Elena's from. For all I know, she lives on the other side of the country.

"Uh, July twentieth." My mom smiles.

"Just to the end of the summer. Have you done anything that I need to worry about?" I know I have to lie to her and it's the hardest thing I've ever done.

"No." I don't break eye contact and I don't blink.

"Alright, goodnight and relax son." She kisses my head and leaves the room. I sigh in relief, because I hate lying to my mom. My head drops back on my pillow and I close my eyes.

I'm sitting at breakfast one morning when Katherine walks over and sits next to me. My first reaction is to move away, but I know that would look rude to anyone who didn't know what had happened. So I keep my eyes on my plate and keep eating. "Why are you avoiding me, Damon? Are you afraid I'll call the cops?" She whispers, leaning closer to me.

"No, actually, I'm not. I haven't done anything wrong." I whisper back and then take my plate to the trash and head out to the barn. I'm suddenly really glad that Katherine wasn't signed up for my activity. I'm starting to think Elena did that on purpose. I'm almost to the barn when Bonnie catches up with me. "I'm not really in the mood Bonnie." I tell her quietly.

"I have a message for you." She replies.

"I'm not sure I want to hear it." I mumble and Bonnie follows me into the barn.

"She said to tell you hi and that she misses you. And also that she's waiting for you. It doesn't matter how long, she'll be waiting." Bonnie tells me and I fight the urge to walk away, I'm so frustrated with the whole situation. But my heart betrays me.

"Tell her not to give up." I say seriously and walk into the tack room.

I get the first group into the arena, where I've got the cavaletti's set up. We've been working on this for a week and they're making good progress. At the end of the summer, there's a horse show for the whole camp and I'm trying to get them ready. But what I'm really looking forward to, is the fourth of july. My mom set up a dance and there's fireworks and a cookout. I'm hoping I'll get to steal some conversations with Elena. I watch them take turns going over the jump, correcting their form and giving them demonstrations. By the end of the lesson we're all exhausted. We get the horses put up and I send them to lunch. I rake the aisle, which is looking kind of messy, then head to the main house. I eat lunch alone in the kitchen again, because it's the only place where I can get some peace. Then I shower and lay down for a nap.

It's the morning of the fourth and my mom is running around like she's high on something. I help get the dance set up and prepare food and we're in the middle of making potato salad, when my mom comes to talk to me. "Damon, I have an idea that I want to try out." She says tentatively.

"Okay..." I wait for it, because I have a feeling I'm either going to love or hate it.

"I wanna teach the kids to two step this year. I was hoping you would do that for me, during the dance." It could be fun, I guess.

"Okay." I agree and turn my focus back to the food.

"Thank you." She says smiling and walks out of the room.

I'm sitting on the grass waitin for the fireworks to start, I'm surrounded by campers who are enjoying their night off. The next morning, there will be no morning activities. I love that morning, because the horses finally get a break. The stars are twinkling brightly above me and I just enjoy the view. I'm pretty sure that Elena won't come find me and my heart aches at the thought, because I miss her conversations and her smile. I frown as Katherine walks past me, swinging her hips with attitude. And I can't help but wonder how her and Elena turned out so different. I'm actually curious about her parents, because it would take an odd couple to raise two vastly different children. I'd had two friends in highschool who were brothers, and while they were their own person, they had the same demeanor when it came to how they treated people. I'm staring at the stars again when bright smile obstructs my view. "Elena?" I sit up and she sits down next to me.

"Is it okay if we sit together and talk. I won't say anything incriminating." She seems a bit unsure of herself, but I'm just happy to see her.

"I think we'll be okay, how have you been?" I ask curiously. I see her every morning, but we're so busy talking about horses, that I really don't know how she's been.

"I'm okay, a little stressed out. Katherine won't drop it, she won't do anything about it, but it's all she talks about with me. I've wanted to smack her so many times." She says sighng and I can't help but laugh. "What about you? Are you doing okay?"

"I told my mom about you." Her expression goes from relaxed to panicked. "Don't worry, I didn't tell her about that stuff, just that I was interested."

"What did she say?"

"That that's what it was like when she fell in love with my dad. They had to wait a while too. Hey, the fireworks are starting." I say as a streak of light flies up into the sky, exploding, and falling down in several more streaks. She doesn't say anything after that, we just sit in silence, watching the fireworks. I feel her lace her fingers with mine in the grass, where no one can see them. I smile and enjoy the show.

After the fireworks were over, I'd whispered in Elena's ear that I'd save her a dance and I headed toward the main house. When I got there, several people were already filtering in. Country music was streaming through the speakers by the dj stand. I notice that my mom had set up a stand with a sign that read: Dance Lessons-learn to two step. I smile and make my way over there. Elena and her friends aren't there yet, so I wait for my first volunteer. I'd been two stepping since I was old enough to walk. Anna is the first to approach me and I give her a friendly smile. "Ready to dance?" I ask, holding out my hand.

"Let's see what you've got, cowboy." She says taking my hand and I lead her out to the dance floor, where several campers are already dancing. She keeps up easily, clearly knowing what she's doing. My hand grips her hip as we move quickly across the floor, my feet acting from memory. I'm spinning us around to head back across the dance floor when she walks in. She's changed her clothes from jeans to a short ruffled white skirt and a blue and red spaghetti strap tank top. She has her boots on, but I still have a good view of her long tanned legs. She sees me and I make sure that I'm not tripping Anna as we move. The song fades out and Anna thanks me and walks off to find someone her age. I walk back to my station, my eyes on Elena the whole time. But when I get there, there's a line waiting for me. I roll my eyes when I realize this and Elena laughs at me. She sits with her friends nearby while I work my way through the line, thinking of no one but her.

Hours pass, and I'm wondering why Elena isn't in line. I keep my eyes on her with every dance I take. My heated gaze meeting her beautiful brown eyes, I can see the effect I'm having on her and it takes everything in me to keep from going over there and offering a dance. Is she doing this on purpose? Or does she not trust herself to dance with me? There's finally a break and they play a line dance song, the cha cha slide. I watch all the campers rush out onto the floor, and line themselves up. My eyes are on Elena as the song starts and my mood is changing rapidly, I can't handle it anymore. I get up and leave, walking out into the warm night air, taking deep breaths. I'm pacing the porch and I don't understand why she has this affect on me. It's just a girl, I keep telling myself in an attempt to not care. Once the summer is over, she'll go back to wherever she's from and forget all about me. She'll meet someone her age and they'll fall in love and it'll be like I never existed. I'm just a summer fling and an illegal one at that. I need to get my head on straight and let her go. I'm hoping that my mom won't notice if I don't go back in, because I need to go for a ride.

I'm in the barn, saddling my horse before my brain catches up to what I'm doing. I climb on before leaving the barn and take off across the camp grounds at a gallop. I barely register that Elena is watching me from the porch. I hit the field and the wind starts whipping through my hair. All my worries cease to exist when I'm riding and it feels so good. I decide that I need to get away for a bit and I take off for the road. I trot into town, heading towards the bar. My mom is going to be pissed when she figures out what I did, but I don't even care at this point. I just want to drink her away.

AN: Sorry that took so long, its been a busy week. Hope you like the update, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't really remember riding back to camp, but it's five in the morning already. My alarm clock is blaring annoyingly in my ears. I groan and hit the off button. My head is pounding and my stomach is turning, how much did I drink the night before? I roll out of bed and get dressed, fighting to calm my stomach the whole time. I stumble down the stairs and out the door. The sun is still down, so it's dark that I'm tripping over things that I normally wouldn't. I finally reach the barn and to my surprise, Mint is safe in his stall. His saddle is put away and he's been brushed down. I frown, still trying to remember coming home the night before. I feed the horses and give Mint his treat. I decide to go inside and make some coffee to kill the hangover. I'm in the kitchen drinking down my third cup of coffee, when my mom walks into the kitchen. The sun is up and the campers are starting to stir outside. "Goodmorning son." She never calls me that and I know already that she has some clue about what I did the night before.

"Morning mom." I say between drinks.

"You'd better slow down, your headache will be replaced with jitters." I freeze, she knows exactly what I did.

"Mom, I'm so-" She cuts me off.

"Damon, I'm just glad to see that you're normal. But I wouldn't suggest riding with the campers today. Go shower, I'll cover for you until you're ready to go." Her tone is stern, but there's a twinkle in her eye and I'm so fucking confused. I set my half full cup of coffee by the sink and I walk upstairs. The hot water feels amazing, my body is sore and my head is fuzzy. The water clears it up better than the coffee. When I come back downstairs, the campers are eating breakfast still and I'm not sure I can even keep food down, but I decide to try. I sit in the kitchen, not wanting to face Elena, who will be full of questions. I eat maybe half of my breakfast before giving up. I head out to the barn to clean the stalls, the campers have the morning off, so I have nothing to do. I'm sitting in the barn when Elena and her friends walk by. She doesn't even look at me and I'm really starting to wonder what I did the night before.

After lunch, I take a nap and then head back out to the barn. I get my group saddled up and out to the arena. I keep getting weird looks and finally Nick is the one to ask. "How come you're not riding with us?" How do I answer that question without promoting drinking?

"I'm giving Mint a break, he and I went for a ride last night." I'm surprised that I came up with that one after the night I had.

"Oh okay, cool." We continue the riding lesson without problems. Dinner is just like all my other meals, alone in the kitchen. And I'm in bed by eight for lack of anything else to do.

I'm getting my group saddled up and ready to ride and something feels horribly off. Elena isn't talking to me, which she normally doesn't during the day to keep from making people suspicious. But She won't even smile at me or look at me. Bonnie keeps throwing me dirty looks and Caroline just looks confused. I get them out to the arena and we're working through the paces, and Elena suddenly starts towards the gate. "Elena, we're not done, where are you heading?" I ask, holding up my hand, so the other riders stop.

"I'm taking a break, I'm not feeling well." She has this look in her eyes and I really want to go after her. But instead, I just nod and turn my attention back to the rest of the group. I know she's fully capable of putting her horse away.

"Alright, let's get back to work." Bonnie is glaring daggers at me and I know something is up. I make a mental note to ask Bonnie about it later. We went over everything we knew so far, just to see where everyone was at. Afterwards, we cleaned the stalls and put the horses up. As everyone was leaving the barn, I pulled Bonnie aside. "I obviously did something wrong and I want to apologize, but I don't know what for." I say sincerely.

"You don't know what you did wrong?" She asks, completely shocked.

"I don't have a clue, I know I went drinking, but is that really a crime? It's not like a I did anything. At least not that I can remember." I'm still trying to put the pieces together from that night. But all I remember is having several beers and a shot of tequila, alone at the bar.

"From what Elena tells me, you danced with her sister for hours." Bonnie whispers and my eyes widen in shock.

"What?! Why was she even there? Why didn't anyone notice she was missing? I swear that I don't remember anything and I didn't think that there was anything to worry about, what with me drinking alone. This is a small ranchers town, it's full of older people." I'm freaking out now, no wonder she was mad.

"Look, just explain to her what happened. If anything, she'll be mad at her sister, not you. But do it soon, because Stefan has been moving in and she's letting him. The guy is nice and all, but I like you a lot more than him. She needs a real man, not a boy." Bonnie whispers back and then hurries out of the barn.

"This is not good..." I say quietly to myself and then head into the house to shower. After my shower, I head downstairs for lunch. I have plans to sit at Elena's table and use code to get her to come out to the barn. But when I'm headed towards her and her friends, I see Stefan sitting next to her and whispering something to her and she giggles. And that's when it hits me that maybe I should just let her go. I know Bonnie said that she liked me better, but Elena needs someone she can kiss in public and hold hands with. Someone who won't get arrested for being with her. I went into the kitchen and sat down at the counter to eat my lunch. I'm almost done, when Bonnie comes in and sits down next to me.

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be apologizing." She whispers.

"We've go to stop meeting like this." I joke, because I can't let Elena spend her life with a guy who has no money.

"Damon, seriously. You need to talk to her after dinner. I'll tell her to meet up with you in the barn at midnight." She says getting up to leave.

"I'm thankful for your help, Bonnie, I really am. But I think that Elena and I think we need to work this out on our own. I'll talk to her, I promise." It's a lie and I feel bad for lying to Bonnie, but it's the right thing to do. She smiles and leaves the kitchen. The rest of my afternon isn't the same. Knowing that I was giving up made my life seem kind of dull. I skipped dinner that night and went to bed early.

The next morning, I go through my normal morning routine of feeding the horses. I'm setting up for the first group, who is eating breakfast, when a cop car pulls up. I frown, wondering why a cop would be here. The cop gets out and walks up to the front door, knocking firmly. I go back to what I'm doing and wait to see why he's there. I'm headed inside to eat breakfast, when he comes out, my mom in tow. The look on her face says it all and there's nothing I can do. "Damon Salvatore?" He asks as Elena walks out on the porch, her face is emotionless, but I secretly wonder how she's thinking.

"Yes sir." My stomach starts turning again. I'm going to prison, and I don't even know for how long.

"You're under arrest for statutory rape." He starts reading me my rights and all I can focus on is the look on my mother's face. She's on the verge of tears, betrayal written all over her face. God help me if she cries, because I'll lose it. Elena is still stone faced, standing on the porch. The other cop from the car gets out to talk to her about god knows what. The cop puts me in the back of the car and I just let my head hang. I sit there for what feels like forever, while they talk to Elena, and finally they get in the car. I'm driven to the local police station and locked up.

I had lot of time to think about everything with Elena. If only I had a way to give her the life she deserved. I would give anything to be with her, but it wasn't fair to her. I needed to move out and get a job, but I kept thinking about my mom, alone on the ranch. Could I really leave her to run the place all on her own? Would she even want me back now? It wasn't going to happen between me and Elena. I felt sleep trying to overtake my body, so I got up and went over to the crappy looking cot. I really didn't want to sleep there, but I didnt' have a choice. I layed on my back with my hands under my head, staring up at the ceiling as I drifted off.

I woke the next morning to voices outside my cell. "He's waking up." I knew that voice. "Damon, they're letting you go." My eyes popped open and I sat up.

"What?"

"The charges were dropped. I'm taking you home." My mom was standing next to a police officer who was unlocking the cell. I stood up without hesitation and walked out.

"What happened?" I asked feeling really confused. "And what time is it?"

"It's after two, there were no witnesses and the girl denied it all. All tests came back negative, so as far as they're concerned, you did nothing." I felt all the muscles in my body relax. The officer led us out and after some paperwork and things, I got in the car with my mom. "What did you do that would make someone call you in?" My mom asked and I really just wanted to go home and take a shower.

"I don't know, mom. I have no clue what happened yesterday. I want to talk to Elena about it, she might know." I say resting my head against the seat.

"Well, Elena's parents came to get her and her sister last night, before they figured out what happened. I've been answering calls all day to concerned parents and some of them have said they were pulling their kids out and others are okay now. Either way, about a fourth of them are gone." I feel my heart sink as she's telling me this. I just screwed up the entire summer. My mom is going to be short cash come september and I can't do anything about it. "Oh, and Damon, you're fired."

"What?!"

"Don't take it personal, but you need to get off the ranch, it's time." She says calmly.

"Mom, I need to help you earn all that money back." I argue.

"You can move out and get a job, and help me out that way. You've outgrown this place, you need to be an adult and start a life of your own. I have a friend that is willing to pay you to work on his ranch. The only difference is, you won't be working with kids, you'll have your own place, and you'll be free to do as you please in your own time. He's got thirty horses that need daily attention and he's willing to pay you a lot. I think it's a great opportunity for you to do what you love and still live your own life."

"Mom, I love what I do on the ranch, I don't want to be anywhere else." She has her resolve face on and I know right then that it's a losing battle.

"Damon, you need to be somewhere else. I love you and you know that. But you're becoming more of a hazard to the ranch than anything else. Plus I want grandchildren and that won't happen while you're living with me." She jokes. I take a deep breath as we pull up to the ranch, because my life is about to change.

"Okay, Okay..." I say trying to get it through my head. Then I realized that if Elena would still have me, I had the opportunity to do it right this time. If she would take me back, I would do everything right this time.

"And he said you could take Mint, board him for free, and use the arena and surrounding trails for free. It's a great deal and it'll get you out in the world." When the car stops, my mom instructs me to go straight upstairs and start packing. There are several parents standing around, probably picking up their kids, they glare at me as I walk by. I just keep my eyes on the floor until I reach the stairs. I hurry up to my room, close the door behind me, and lean against it. There's no way I could stay here, it would ruin the ranch now. I knew my mom was probably downstairs reassuring parents that I'd no longer be working here. If I hadn't known for months that she wanted me to get a life of my own, it'd be insulting. I stare around my room at the few things that are mine and my eyes land on a piece of paper that I don't remember leaving on my desk. I cross the room and pick it up to read it.

Dear Damon,

I'm so sorry for what my sister did, she had no right. She told me that she followed you to the bar the other night. She discovered you were drunk and took full advantage of you, but when you still turned her down for a kiss she got mad. She called my parents and they called the cops. I told them what happened, that we talked and nothing more. That you were counseling me on some issues I had at school. I also told them that the only reason we were alone when it happened was because I kept cornering you. My parents are kinda mad at me, but they're really mad at my sister for lying to them. Especially after I told them that she tried to hit on you several times. I put my number in your cell phone, which I found on your desk. On the twentieth, I'll be moving out, so give me a call, I'd love to hear from you. Hope you are okay and I miss you.

Love,

Starlet

She must have used her horses name in case someone found the letter, anyone could have figured it out, but it was cute. I smiled because it wasn't over yet, there was still a chance for us. And her birthday was only two weeks away. By then, I'd be settled at my new place and have some money from my new job. I picked up my cell phone and went to the contacts, finding her number easily. I smiled and then I started organizing my stuff so it could be packed away.

My new job was ridiculously exhausting, thirty horses to brush and feed, thirty stalls to clean, and barn maintenance. I started at seven in the morning, had an hour for lunch and finished at seven at night. Luckily I had weekends off, because I would definitely die of exhaustion if I didn't. I was still learning the horses names, and what they liked and didn't like. For instance a few of these horses bit and kicked, which I wasn't used to. The aisle was concrete instead of dirt, so I spent a lot of time sweeping. The wheelbarrow was bigger, so I could clean two stalls in one go, but that made it heavier. Needless to say that my arms were a lot more muscular than before.

My new apartment was amazing, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, whirlpool tubs, a large open living area and kitchen. The kitchen had an island in the middle, with barstools on one side. It had a balcony with lounge chairs, which was my favorite place to be when I wasn't with the horses. I usually spent my lunch break scarfing down a sandwhich and riding Mint. On the weekends, I took Mint out for trail rides, he loved that part, I think it reminded him of home. I was counting down the days to Elena's birthday on the calendar on my phone. It was friday, which meant that her birthday was the day after tomorrow. I smiled as I cleaned the last two stalls. I got a good nip on the butt on the way out of the last stall. I rubbed it and gave the horse my middle finger. I definitley missed my sweet horses back at home. I stopped to give Mint his nightly treat and headed out to my car. The sun was almost gone and the ranch was quiet, most of the people who boarded their horses here came to ride in the mornings and were long gone by three pm.

The drive home is only ten minutes, it was set up that way in case there was an emergency at the barn. I stopped at the store to buy some bourbon and a few things for dinner. When I walked in the door, my apartment was dark, but I didn't mind. Hopefully on Sunday, I'd have some company. I made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes with greens beans. It wasn't as good as my moms but it was decent. I washed it down with a glass of bourbon, which I was really starting to like. Mr. Rowan paid really well and a lot of the people who boarded at his ranch tipped well. I was starting a savings account to buy my own place one day. I was in the process of starting a shower, when there was a knock at the door. I looked around for my shirt only to realize that it was filthy."Shit."

I hurried to the door, wondering if it was my mom. She came to visit from time to time, but usually on saturday nights. I opened the door and immediatley wished I was wearing a shirt. "Hi Damon." She said shyly, her face bright red.

"Elena."

AN: I'm not really that good at drama, so it doesn't last long. But I hope you liked the chapter anyway, thanks for the reviews!


	6. Chapter 6

"I can't stay long, but I thought I'd come by for a bit. I got your adress from your mom, I hope that's okay." I step aside so she can come in, still a little bit in shock.

"Uh, yeah, that's fine. I'd offer you something to eat, but I only made enough for one." She walks into my apartment and looks around. "I liked the ranch better but it'll do for now."

"It's really nice. I brought you a house warming gift." She says before I shut the door. She walked back out into the hallway and picked up a crate, and hands it to me. "I hope your allowed to keep him." Him? I look inside and there's a small labrador puppy inside.

"Wow, yeah, I think I'm allowed to have pets. Thank you, this will make the apartment a lot less lonely. Did you name him?" I'm kind of hoping she did, cause as far as naming dogs go...I've got nothing.

"I named him midnight, cliche I know. But it made me think of all of our midnight meetings. And uh, I have some dog food and other necessities out in my car, but I couldn't carry it up by myself." She explains as I set the crate down and open the door. He's shy at first, just sniffing the air, while hiding inside. I decide to give him time to adjust.

"I like it. Um, I guess I can't offer you any bourbon, but I've got soda in the fridge." The tension in the room was ridiculous and I just wanted to hold her already, or kiss her. Anything to make the two of us as comfortable with each other as we used to be.

"No thanks, I've got to head home. But you can help me get his stuff out of the car." I looked over at Midnight, who was currently inching out of his crate. He was all black and was really fluffy, it made me wonder if he wasn't a mix of something else.

"Sure. I mean it's the least I can do, since you bought me a puppy." I joke and we head down to the car, making sure to leave the door closed, so Midnight doesn't follow.

Elena said car, but really she has a four door truck that's bright red. I smirk, because I prefer a woman who drives a truck. She drops the tailgate and there's more stuff in there for Midnight, than I moved out of my mom's house with. "Wow, Elena, you didn't have to-"

"Yes, I did." She cuts me off. She hands me his bed, then sticks his bowls, food, treats, and toys in it. Then she grabs his brand new collar and retractable leash, and oddly enough, a rain jacket.

"You bought him a rain jacket?" I ask arching my eyebrow in amusement.

"Yes, because there's a lot of rain towards the end of the summer. In the winter, I'll by him a sweater." She says as if it's common sense. She walks back upstairs with me, opening doors as we go. We settle him in, putting on his collar, picking a spot for his bed, and filling his food and water bowls. "It's getting really late, I should go." She says kissing Midnight on the head and setting him down in his bed. He immediatley climbs out of it, in search of something to play with. "I'll call you on sunday, after my moving out party." She says smiling sadly, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to go, but I don't know what to say to make her stay. Plus she's still seventeen, so that makes her off limits to me.

"Please do." It comes out a little more desperate than I wanted to sound. She gives me a funny look as she opens the door behind her back.

"You miss me." She teases and backs out the door into the hallway.

"More than you know." I reply seriously.

"Goodbye Damon." She blows me a kiss and I'm weak in the knees and then she's gone. I close the door and lean back against it. Midnight cocks his head at me and barks.

"I know." I tell him and then head for the shower that I'd forgotten all about for a moment.

I ate lunch with my mom on saturday and slept in late on sunday. When I finally woke up it was after one. I groaned as I rolled out of bed, Midnight, who had taken to sleeping on the foot of my bed, was up and wagging his tail. That meant we were going outside for a walk. I pulled on a shirt, my jeans, and some shoes, then hooked his leash to his collar. We walked out to the parking lot and found a patch of grass that he could use. I stood there, half asleep while he did his thing, then my phone went off. "Hello?" I grumbled.

"Damon, what are you doing?" My eyes popped open at the sound of her voice. "Were you asleep?" She added, giggling.

"Uh, no, not anymore. I'm just taking the dog out, how'd moving day go?" I ask taking Midnight back towards the apartment building.

"Not bad, my new place is tiny, but it's close to the community college. I'm going to take a few classes until I find something I'm interested in. It's the only way my parents will be okay with me moving out. Not only that, but it's only a thirty minute drive from where you live." She said happily and I grinned. She didn't live very far away from me at all.

"So, you're eighteen today. Happy birthday!" Because that is definitely something to celebrate. I open the door to my apartment and let Midnight off of his leash.

"That's actually why I called. My family celebrated with me and my sister this morning. I was hoping you and I could celebrate tonight." She said shyly. Technically, this would only be our third date, and we wouldn't have to hide this time. "My parents live thirty minutes or so in the opposite direction of you, so we shouldn't run into them." She reassured me, because they could still have me convicted and this time with proof.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Elena." I swear I heard an audible sigh of relief over the phone. Was she really worried that I'd say no? "What time?"

"Well, I need to shower and change clothes, so maybe in two hours?" That thirty minute drive might prove to be more of a pain than I expected.

"Okay, I'd pick you up, but I don't really know where you live."

"I'll come to you this time and I'll draw you a map while I'm there." I walked over to the fridge, remembering suddenly that I was just standing in my apartment. I pulled out the orange juice and poured myself a glass.

"Sounds good, oh and by the way, I'm making dinner." She got quiet for a minute. I actually felt nervous in that moment.

"You can cook?" She asked surprised.

"Is that so shocking? I learned from my mom, plus I know a few things that she doesn't. Trust me, it'll be good. I'll see you at four."

"Okay, bye." I ended the call and leaned against the counter to drink my orange juice. Midnight was currently running through the apartment like a madman, his toys strewn across the living room. I smiled, she had me wrapped around her little finger. I had never even considered getting a dog, and here I was with the dog she bought and named. I shook my head and set my glass in the sink. Tonight was going to be fun for sure.

I showered and dressed quickly so I could go to the store and get a few things I needed to make dinner. Elena had eaten my mom's food for a solid month, my guess was that she was tired of it. So I decided that I was going to make fish, fresh veggies, and seasoned potatoes. I also needed to get some wine, which I hoped she'd drink regardless of her age, but I wasn't going to push it. I made sure that Midnight was fed and watered then grabbed my keys and wallet and headed out the door. When I got back, I only had an hour, I preheated the oven and pulled out my groceries. I started with the fish, getting it seasoned and in the oven. Then I started the on the potatoes which needed to be skinned, chopped, and seasoned before being cooked. And finally the veggies, which were the easiest. I was just about finished with everything, and had just opened the bottle of wine, when there was a knock on the door. I smiled and set the wine glasses down on the counter. I tried to walk to the door, but I really wanted to run. I pulled it open and there she was, somehow, she looked alot older than she was. She wore a blue dress that stopped just above her knees. There was one strap across her right shoulder, exposing her left shoulder. She was also wearing a pair of black strappy high heels, that showed off her toned legs. I took a deep breath and forced myself to meet her beautiful brown eyes, that were looking at me in amusement. "Do you like it? I got it for my birthday." Her tone was innocent, but that was a loaded question.

"I love it." I said a little too breathlessly for my liking. "Come on in." I said stepping aside and she walked in but stopped just a few feet in.

"Wow, whatever you're making, smells delicious." She looked really nervous and I began to wonder what she thought was going to happen.

"It's salmon, you do like fish, don't you?" I hadn't even thought to ask.

"I love fish." She answered a little too quickly.

"Okay, we need to talk about a few things, before we start this." I said taking her hand and leading her into the kitchen. I stopped and leaned against the counter, taking her other hand and looking her in the eyes. "I don't want you to feel pressured to do anything you aren't ready for, okay? I'm totally content to eat dinner and watch a movie or something. We're going to go at your pace. You've already got me, so there's no need to impress me or anything. I like you for you, just as you are." She nodded and I wondered for a moment if I should put the wine away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to try so hard. It's just so different now that we aren't at camp. I mean I've never really dated a lot before. I've never met a guy that I liked more than horses and books." She apologized and I just smiled.

"It's okay, now, would you like some wine? Be honest, my feelings won't be hurt."

"I've been drinking wine since I was ten, my parents collect it. So, yes, I would like some wine." I felt a little more relaxed about the situation now. I'd stop her after two glasses and make her wait a while before heading home. We had at least four hours before it got dark out and I would have to worry about her driving home safely.

"Alright." I poured two glasses and handed one to her. The oven beeped and It was time to eat. I motioned for her to have a seat at the bar, while I got the food ready. I set our plates down and joined her.

"Wow, you can cook." She said looking at the food on her plate. "I'm pretty sure that your mom never made fish."

"Yeah, she thinks that because it's a ranch that it should only be southern food that she cooks." Once we started eating, things got way too intense because every other sound out of her mouth was a moan of appreciation. All I could do during dinner is picture her on my bed, naked, and moaning. At one point I even caught myself just staring at her and when she noticed, she blushed bright red.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked swallowing a bite of fish.

"Because, I feel like I should leave you two alone." I teased and she giggled.

"It's so good, I can't help it." She defended. "Are we gonna watch a movie, or do you have other plans?" She asked a moment later and took a sip of her wine, which elicited the same response as the fish. I just shook my head and chuckled.

"We can watch a movie, or we could take Midnight for a walk, or we could do both. It's your birthday so you get to choose." I didn't own a lot of movies, but hopefully I had at least one that she liked. She seemed to be in deep thought while we ate the rest of our dinner, and I just let her think it over. After we finished, I cleared the plates and started washing the dishes. She walked over and hopped up on the counter to talk to me.

"You know, there will be time for that later. Let's go take Midnight for a walk." I couldn't deny her anything she wanted. I turned the water off, dried my hands, and hung the towel next to the sink.

"Alright, let's go." I gripped her hips and she gripped my shoulders so I could help her off of the counter. When her feet hit the floor we froze for a minute. We hadn't been this close in weeks, my hands were still on her hips. I knew if I moved them away it would make things more awkward at this point. So I just stood there like an idiot, waiting for something to happen. The only problem is that I didn't know what I was waiting for. Elena was blushing and looking anywhere but in my eyes. So I let my hands drop to my sides and I turned away. "Midnight!"

Elena walked past me into my bedroom and I frowned, what was she doing? I walked over to my closed bedroom door and knocked. "Elena, what are you doing?"

"Looking for something more comfortable to wear. You have a lot of white and black." She called through the door. The thought of her wearing my clothes was enough to make me wanna barge in the room and take her. But instead I stood my ground outside the door.

"I like black, but I wore white for my mom. She told me that black wasn't a good color to wear out the hot sun all day." I responded. The door clicked open then and I had to take a deep breath to contain myself. She was wearing one of my white shirts that was so big on her that it came down to her knees. She had a pair of my black sweat pants underneath and the only reason her feet were visible was because she was wearing a pair of my flip flops. I smiled and she brushed past me to find Midnight.

"Okay, we're ready to go." She said holding his leash in one hand.

"Do you want a jacket or something?" I really needed some practice in the dating area.

"I think I'll be okay, it's pretty warm out." She walked over and hooked her arm through mine and we left the apartment.

It was dark out and the stars were twinkling brightly in the sky. We walked along at a casual pace, Midnight ran around in excitement, enjoying his time outside. "He's all over the place." Elena commented letting out a giggle.

"I don't know how I'm going to give him the exercise he needs. I guess when he gets big enough, I'll start taking him to the ranch." Midnight ran around my feet and Elena tried to follow him to avoid us getting tangled up. But he just kept going and the next thing I know Elena is clinging to me, trying not to lose her balance.

"Midnight, stop!" She squealed. I was losing my balance and I had to get Elena to stand still, so I wrapped my arms around her and got a good grip on Midnight's leash. He had no choice but to stop running.

"Am I the only one who feels like they just landed in a disney movie?" I asked jokingly. Elena laughed and wrapped her arms around my waist while I tried to untangle my feet. Elena's hand slipped under my shirt in the process and I couldn't take it anymore. I gave up on untangling my feet and I took her face in my hands, pressing my lips to hers. She tensed at first, not expecting it, then she relaxed in my arms. Midnight sat down, apparently happy with himself for what he did. My hands moved to Elena's waist, holding her to me, and she tangled a hand in my hair, the other gripping my shoulder. I suddenly wished we weren't tied together, I really wanted to take her back to my apartment. She ran her tongue across my bottom lip and I groaned, giving her access. Her tongue slipped inside my mouth and the world started to fall. I wasn't sure exactly what happened next but my head hit the ground, Midnight yelped, and Elena screamed. Luckily for me, the grass broke my fall, but then I realized that my feet were still tied to Elena's.

"I can't get up, my feet are stuck!" Elena said blushing a deep red, because her thigh was between my legs and it was quickly becoming a problem. "Is your head okay?" She asked suddenly serious, forgetting for the moment our other problem.

"Yep, my head is fine." I said in a voice that was a little too high pitched.

"I think if I turn this way..." She said trying to move to her right and reach for our feet. That didn't help me any and she still couldn't reach the leash.

"Okay, let me try." I said moving to the left, my leg moving up between hers in my attempt to reach the leash.

"Oh god!" Elena gasped. I froze and just looked at her. "Damon." She slapped my leg a little too hard and I quickly moved my leg.

"Ow." I notice at that point that Midnight is sitting arms length away from me. I reach over and grab his collar. "Elena, unhook his leash." Elena does as I say, I keep a firm grip on Midnight and Elena starts to sit up and freezes. I look up at her and she's looking at my crotch, I look at where her knee is positioned and I take a deep breath. "Go ahead." I brace myself, because this is going to feel way too good and I won't be able to do anything about it until after she leaves. She sits up the rest of the way and I close my eyes, because damn does it feel good. I don't even pay attention to what she's doing, I just wait until she's done. My teeth are clenched and I'm gripping the grass, I want her so bad that there aren't even words for it. Suddenly the contact is gone and I open my eyes. Elena hooks Midnight leash back onto his collar and I get up off of the ground. I make a mental note to talk to Midnight about not causing awkward situations.

"Should we head back? Or do you want to keep walking?" Elena asks me, but she looks flustered and won't look at me.

"Let's head back. I think Midnight had his fun already." Elena blushes but take my arm again and we start walking back to the apartment.

When we walk into the apartment Elena lets Midnight loose and we stand there for a moment. I'm not sure what to say to her at this point, because she knows what she does to me now. So I don't say anything, I just start towards the living room to pick out a movie. I'm relieved when she follows and plops down on my couch like she owns the place. I list off the movies that I own and hold them out for her to pick one. "You own four movies?" She teases.

"Yes, because until now, I didn't have time to watch them. I was too busy teaching you and your friends how to ride a horse." I remind her and she rolls her eyes.

"Whatever, you're just an old man." She teases again. She points to one and I'm sure she's seen it, but she doesn't complain. I pop it into the dvd player and join her on the couch. As the movie starts she curls into my side and sighs contentedly. I wrap an arm around her and play with her hair, not really paying attention to what we're watching. Her hair is so soft and it smells like Jasmine, a scent that I'm really starting to love. Elena shifted slightly, scooting down and resting her hand on my knee. I finally start watching the movie and after a while I notice that her hand is moving up my thigh. I squirm a little and when she reaches the top of my thigh I can't take it anymore. I pull her up to me and I kiss her. The kiss starts to get more intense and Elena is pushing me onto my back. I'm nervous about touching her, because I don't want to make her uncomfortable. I keep my hands firmly planted on her hips and she reaches for my shirt. My body knows what she's doing before it registers in my lust addled brain. A button pops off, hitting the tv screen and landing somewhere on the hardwood floor.

"Who says you can't go home? Who says you can't go back? I've been all around the world and as a matter of fact. There's only one place I want to go. Who says you can't go home?" Elena sits up to answer her phone and I let it slip.

"Damn it!" Then I immediately cover my mouth.

"Hello?...Hi mom." I bite my tongue, because Elena is still straddling me and I'm trying to control myself. My body doesn't want to listen though and Elena is giving me a look that I can't quite decipher. "When did she leave?" When did who leave?

"Okay, I'll be waiting for her, bye mom, love you." Elena ends the call and jumps off of my lap. I groan, sit up, and lean forward.

"What's going on?" I ask completely confused.

"My sister is on her way to my house, because her and my mom didn't want me to be alone on my first night." Elena explained, grabbing her keys off of the table by the door.

"Wait, so you're leaving?" I stood up, forgetting about my current condition. She looks right at my crotch and giggles.

"Are you happy I'm leaving?" She teases. I fight the urge to sit back down and instead cross the room and wrap her in my arms hugging her tightly.

"I just want a hug and a kiss before you go." I whisper and lean in slowly, kissing her slow and sensual. She melts in my arms and lets out a quiet moan and I let her go, taking a step back.

"Why am I leaving again?" She's in a daze already and I smile at my handiwork.

"Your sister." I remind her and she snaps out of it.

"Oh, right. I need to draw you a map, but I don't have time. So I'll message you the directions." She says turning towards the door again. She pulls it open and stops, looking over her shoulder. "I'll see you soon." She says and blows me a kiss. And much to my surprise, I go through the motions of catching it. The door closes and I'm left standing there with raging hormones and no release. It was definitely time to take a cold shower.

After a really long shower and a late night snack, I crawled into my too big empty bed. I didn't think I was very tired, but it must have hit hard because I don't remember falling asleep. I heard a distant ringing noise in my dream that I couldn't remember and It gradually got louder until I realized my phone was ringing. I picked it up and answered the call without bothering to look at who it was. "Hello?" I mumbled. I glanced at the clock to find out that it was three in the morning. Who the fuck was calling at three am?

"Damon." It was just a whisper but I would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Elena?" Was something wrong?

"Katherine just fell asleep a little while ago and I wanted to tell you what she told me." She was still whispering, so Katherine must have been in the next room.

"Where are you in your apartment, that you have to whisper?" I ask curiously.

"I'm in the bathroom." I chuckled, why didn't she step outside for a minute?

"Okay, tell me what Katherine said." I know that I'm not going to get to go back to sleep until she gets it all out.

"Well, we were talking about you." I kind of figured that that would happen. "And it came up that we both were into you. So then I mentioned something about you being just another notch in her bedpost. And then she asked me why I was so adamant about you being mine." She considered me hers? I couldn't help but smile at that. "So I explained that it wasn't just about sex for me that I really really liked you and that I thought that we were headed somewhere serious. And guess what she said?"

"What?"

"That I could have you and that she wouldn't have gone so far with cop thing if she'd known how I felt." We could have avoided all of that if she'd just been honest with her sister?

"How exactly do you feel?" I was just too curious, and I knew that curiosity killed the cat, but I couldn't help myself. She was never this open with me, not since that first night that we met in the barn. There was silence on the other end of the line and I almost regretted what I'd said but then she started talking.

"I'm not sure how to put this into words. But it's like when you aren't with me, I'm not me anymore. Being with you makes me feel happy, excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. Like when you ride a roller coaster for the first time, only I'm not nauseous afterwards. Do you know what I mean?" It was a little confusing to get what she was saying at first, but then it clicked and I knew exactly what she meant. In fact I'm pretty sure she had said she was falling for me in a really complicated way.

"I know exactly what you mean." I said smiling.

"I'm feeling a little dizzy now, so I think I'm going to go to bed." I frowned.

"Why are you feeling dizzy? Have you been drinking?" It suddenly occurred to me that Katherine wasn't exactly the best influence.

"Maybe just a little, but don't worry, I'm gonna go sleep it off and classes don't start until the end of august. So I can sleep in tomorrow." I knew this was going to come out sounding a little clingy, but I missed her already and I couldn't help it.

"Okay, get some rest. And if you feel up to it tomorrow, I'd like to see you again. You can come by the ranch or we can hang out at my place." I said, hoping that she'd remember this conversation tomorrow.

"You don't have to ask me twice. I'll call you when I wake up."

"Okay, goodnight Elena." I said quietly, because I really didn't want to hang up the phone. I could listen to her voice all night long and not care that I didn't get any sleep. But she needed to get sleep, so I had to be mature about it and let her go to bed.

"Goodnight Damon." I ended the call and looked at the clock again. It was now almost four and I had to be up at five. I groaned and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep.

An hour went by way to fast and I practically slept through my shower. I made some extra strong coffee to take with me. Then as I was about to leave, I looked over at Midnight and realized that I couldn't just leave him in all day. I grabbed his leash, hooked him up and headed out to my truck. He sat in the passenger seat as I drove out to the ranch. The coffee gave me a good boost and I put Midnight in one of the empty stalls with a bucket of water. I went to grab the things I needed to clean stalls. I worked quickly wanting to have time for a break, which I needed to use to ride Mint, but I didn't know if I had the energy for it today. It was eleven by the time I got to the last horse, which meant I was moving slower not faster. I sighed and went to grab the box of grooming supplies. This part went a little faster, I was done by twelve-thirty. I put up my supplies and walked down to Mints stall and handed him a treat. He looked at me like he was confused and I leaned against his stall door. "I'm sorry, I know I haven't ridden you as much as I should. I'm just so tired today and I'm not even done." He snorted and shook his head.

"Damon?" I whirled around, shocked that she actually found the place. I'd sent her directions while I was cleaning stalls and she'd never responded.

"Hey, you made it. How's your head?" I teased, knowing it was probably pounding. Not to mention that she was wearing sunglasses inside the dimly lit barn.

"It's horrible. Remind me never to drink with my sister again." She was talking really quietly as she walked up to me. "So, what do you do next?" She asked curiously.

"Sleep in my truck, because I'm exhausted and in two hours I have to let the horses out to pasture." I said already walking in the direction of my truck.

"Can I join you?" She asked warily, following behind me.

"Uh, yeah. I think we can both fit on the back seat, unless you'd rather sit up front?" I pulled open the back door to my truck and then hesitated because I wasn't sure she was ready to sleep with me yet. That was kind of an intimate thing to do, consider we'd not rounded third base yet.

"Don't let me fall off." She said smiling and I climbed in the back, stretching out on the seat and holding my arms out for her. We barely fit, I had my arms around her and she was still slipping off the seat a little. She squirmed and giggled a little.

"This isn't going to work. Come here." I said pulling her on top of me so that she had one leg between mine and the other on the edge of the seat, her head resting on my chest. "Better?" I asked.

"Much." Something about her tone of voice made my heart skip a beat. It wasn't long before her breathing evened out and she stopped moving. I set an alarm on my phone and slipped into a deep sleep.

AN: I had a blast writing this chapter, hope you love it as much as I do! And a huge thank you to my awesome Beta supergirl27! As always reviews are much appreciated!


	7. Chapter 7

AN: So, this is the chapter where the story is rated M and it will continue through the rest of the story. This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but hopefully you like it. As always, reviews are apreciated!

When my alarm went off, I opened my eyes and smiled. Elena was curled into my chest, soundly asleep. I didn't want to wake her, but I had to get back to work. She lets out a soft sigh and grips my shirt in one of her hands. "Elena, it's time to wake up." I whispered and she groans.

I try tapping her back and talking louder and nothing earns me anything more than a groan. I run a hand through her hair and start whispering in her ear."If you don't wake up, I'm going to lose my job. I can't lose my job if you want to live on a ranch someday. I need to start saving the money now, because I want you to have that beautiful ranch house and lots of horses. I want you to be able to spend all day on a porch swing reading your favorite books and drinking sweet tea. By the way I make amazing sweet tea." She finally starts to stir.

"What about sweet tea?" She asks, opening her eyes.

"I didnt' say anything about sweet tea, you must have been dreaming." I tried hard not to laugh.

"Do you need to go back to work?" She mumbled, running her hand up and down my chest.

"Yes, but I don't want to. Will you stay until I get off? You can sleep in my truck if you want."

"You smell good." I had to laugh at that one, was she smelling me?

"So do you. But I really need to go back to work." She kind of rolled off of me, landing on her feet and opening the door. I followed her out of the truck and shut the door behind me. "You want to help put the horses out?"

"Yeah, that actually sounds fun. I haven't gotten to ride since I left camp and I miss being around horses." She informed me as we walked into the barn. The horses were patiently waiting at their stall doors.

"Mint is here if you want to ride." Her face lit up at that suggestion.

"Yes please." She bounced on the balls of her feet with excitment.

"Alright, let's get these horses out and we'll take Mint for a ride." I took her to the tack room and showed her where the harnesses and lead ropes were so we could get started. We led them out to pasture two at a time. I gave her warnings on the horses that bit and kicked and after ten minutes we were done. I saddled Mint and Elena climbed on first, then I climbed up behind her. I had a flash back to the first time we rode Mint together and felt a little nervous.

"Ready?" She asked and I wrapped my arms around her.

"Yep, let's go. There' s a field to the right that we can ride in." I explain and we took off. I had galloped on Mint more times than I could count, but doing so while sitting behind someone made it a little more intense. At one point I even had to take Elena's hair and drape it over her shoulder the best I could because it was all in my face. Elena just laughed the whole time. "It's not funny!"

"Do you want to switch places?" She asked as we rounded the corner of the field.

"Not in a million years." I didn't say it very loud, because I hadn't intended for her to hear it, but she did anyway. She pulled the horse to a stop suddenly.

"Damon, are you coming on to me?" She asked and she sounded shocked, but was she really or was she joking. I hadn't really made any sexual comments, but she was really starting to get to me and it was driving me nuts.

"Maybe...should I stop?" My confidence was no where to be found.

"No!" I jumped and Mint jolted forward a bit. "I mean, I've been waiting for you to...you know...but I didn't want to come right out and say that we should...you know..." I could tell from her voice that she was blushing and I couldn't help but laugh. "Don't laugh at me! That's so not helping!" I climbed off of Mint and Elena followed suit, because we couldn't have this conversation with her back to me.

"Look Elena, if you wanna go there, then we'll go there. But I'm not going to push you into it. So, when your ready, I'm all for it." I explained. Of course, now it would just be weird to go there after our awkward conversation. So, I hoped she at least waited till later that day.

"Okay." Elena walked up to me, placed her hands on my shoulders, rose up on her tip toes, and whispered in my ear. "I've wanted you since the first time I saw you." Then she got back on the horse and waited. I just stood there, in complete shock. Was she sure she was a virgin? How was I supposed to hold back now. We couldn't do anything until I was done working, which I needed to get back to. I groaned in frustration and climbed back on Mint. Elena giggled and waited for me to wrap my arms around her. As soon as I did, we took off again, back towards the barn. I hurried through my evening tasks, bringing in the horses, feeding them, cleaning the barn, checking to make sure everyting was in its place, and locking up. I must have had a burst of energy because I got done at six instead of seven. I took Midnight out of the stall and headed out of the barn. When I walked back out to the truck, Elena had the music turned up and was dancing in her seat. I had to knock on the window to get her to unlock the doors.

"Are you done?" She asked turning down the music when I opened the door. Midnight hopped in and settled himself in the back seat.

"Yes, finally. Do you wanna meet me at my apartment or are you going to head home?" I asked curiously, because her truck was parked not far from mine.

"How about I just ride with you to your apartment? Or will they have my truck towed?" She was really pushing for it tonight. I was trying not to get my hopes up.

"You should probably take your truck, that way, if you need to leave at any point...you can." I suggested.

"Darn, I really wanted to ride in your truck." I couldn't help but arch my eyebrow, because that sounded like she wanted to ride something else. She probably meant she wanted to ride in my truck, literally, but it sounded like she meant something else. "What?...No...no, no, I really meant that I wanted to ride in your truck...I'm just going to go get in my truck now. I'll follow you." She opened her door.

"Elena." I loved embarrassing her, she was so cute when she was embarrassed. She turned to look at me. "If you really wanna ride my truck...you can." She stuck her tongue out at me and got out of the truck. "I'm sorry Elena, I'll stop teasing you now."

"I'll follow you, see you in a bit Damon." She shut the door and ran to her truck.

The drive home was so quiet that I was tempted to turn Elena's music back on. Driving alone was never going to be the same. And technically she'd never ridden in my truck. When we reached my apartment I hooked Midnight's leash to his collar and climbed out of my truck. Elena fell in step beside me before I reached the stairs. "Hey, so what time should I kick you out tonight? I know you don't have school for a while, so I didn't know if you wanted to stay for a while or if you were going to head home in an hour or two." I didn't even know what we were going to do.

"Actually, I have an idea. I'll tell you once we're inside." She said grinning as we walked up to my apartment door. I unlocked it and let Midnight loose, Elena followed me in, shutting the door behind her. I set my keys on the table inside the door and walked into the kitchen. I was dying to know what her plans were, but I was trying to play it cool. I opened the fridge to see if I had anything for us to eat. It was mostly leftover fish and stuff for sandwiches.

"I'm starving, are you hungry?" I asked Elena who was leaning against the island behind me, doing something on her phone.

"Yes, what are the choices?" She asked walking up beside me. "Your fridge is almost empty."

"I'm aware of that, do you want a sandwich?"

"If its as good as your fish, definitely. I honestly would eat anything you made." She smiled brightly and I pulled out the things I needed. She put on the movie from last night while I put the sandwiches together and then we settled in on the couch to eat.

"Are you going to tell me your idea?" I asked curiously. She gave me a nervous look and set her plate down on the coffee table. My heart thudded in my chest and I was a little worried about what she was going to say. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. I set my plate down too, because this seemed serious.

"If it's okay with you and if you want me too. I was going to stay the night...we don't have to do anything if you're tired, but I just hate going home. It's so quiet and lonely." She rushed out. She wanted to stay the night? How could I not want her to? I wanted nothing more than to spend more than a few hours with her. The idea of getting to hold her all night had me so excited that I almost forgot to respond. "Damon? Is it okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I've just been waiting for you to want to." I said unable to hide my grin.

"On the downside, this was a spur of the moment thing, so I don't have any clothes with me."

"You can borrow something of mine." I said picking up my plate again. We finished our sandwiches long before the movie was over. Elena started to get tired and ended up laying down with her head on my lap. I played with her hair while we finished the movie. She stayed quiet, but I was wondering if she actually planned to do something besides sleep or if it was going to be a night of cuddling. I was happy either way, but I couldn't lie, I wanted her. At some point during the movie, Elena fell asleep. The only reason I knew was because she rolled over so she was facing my stomach and let out a soft sigh. I decided I wouldn't wake her until it was over because she looked so peaceful. I layed my head back against the couch and relaxed, enjoying just being with her.

The credits started to roll and I decided to put Elena in bed. I slid my arms underneath her the best I could without waking her. I lift her slowly, not sure if I would be able to get my balance. When my legs were steady underneath me, I started towards the bedroom. Luckily the door was open, I set her gently on the bed and went to the dresser to find her some clothes in case she decided she wanted to change. I set them on the bed, grabbed my own pajamas and went into the bathroom. I changed, brushed my teeth, ran a comb through my hair, and washed my face. I walked back into the bedroom to find Elena awake and changed into my clothes. "You're up." I commented, walking towards the bed.

"I can't believe I fell asleep, I feel like all I've done today is sleep." She said folding her clothes and setting them on top of the dresser.

"Drinking will do that to you." The moment after was awkward, we were about to sleep in the same bed. I wasn't sure what to say to make her feel comfortable.

"Uh, left side or right side?" I ask shifting from one foot to the other.

"I don't care, where do you usually sleep?" I had to make this better somehow, I felt like an idiot. I'd dated several women over the years, who eventually left because I still lived with my mom and worked on ranch all the time. But while we dated I always knew what I was doing, and they never wanted me to leave.

"Right in the middle." I said quietly walking towards her, she was blushing now. I pulled her to me and leaned in really close. "Let's just both sleep in the middle." I whispered and kissed her neck and then her shoulder and then her collarbone. Her breathing was shallow now and I was working my way back up to her mouth. When I reached it, she gave in and pulled me up against her, kissing me fiercely. I ran a hand up her side and back down again, not sure where I should draw the line. She had one hand tangled in my hair, the other gripping the front of my shirt. I knew she wanted me, but I didn't know if she was ready yet. I thought back to her reaction of my leg slipping between hers when we went for our walk. I wanted that reaction again. I decided I'd go for it and if she got uncomfortable or shot me down, I'd stop. I push her up against the door, pressing myself into her and she let out a moan. I smirked into our kiss, because she was holding back and had been from day one. I was going to get her to ask me for it. By the time I was done, she'd be addicted. I let my hand run up her side again coming to a rest on her breast. I massaged it gently and she pulled away from our kiss to catch her breath. I slipped one leg between hers, bringing it up to rub against the spot I was dying to get to.

"Damon..." She breathed my name and I shivered because there was no better sound in the world. I started kissing her neck again and her head fell back. She held me there with the hand that was tangled in my hair and I knew it was time. We'd waited long enough.


	8. Chapter 8

I nipped at her shoulder, relishing the taste of her skin. Elena pushed me off of her then and I braced myself for a slap in the face for jumping on her like that. Instead she grabs the hem of my shirt and pulls it up over my head. She tosses it to the side and does the same with her own shirt. And in that moment, my eyes are glued to her body. She's not wearing a bra and her breasts are exposed. They're perfect and I just want to touch them, but she doesn't give me much of a chance. She gently pushes me back so that I'm sitting on the bed. She walks up and straddles me, pressing her lips to mine again. I gripped her hips and thrust up, in desperate need of relief. "Oh god!" She gasped.

I rolled us so I was on top of her, she scoots further up the bed and I follow, settling between her legs. I start at her stomach, placing small kisses and work my way up to her chest. I kiss the top of one of her breasts before taking her nipple in my mouth. I sucked on it until it hardened and then ran my teeth over it. Elena arched up into my mouth and I swirled my tongue around her nipple. I pulled one of her legs up and realized that I wanted the clothes gone, I wanted skin on skin. I sat up and hooked my fingers under the hem of her pants and swiftly pulled them down her legs. I my way up her calf and her thigh, stopping just below her hip. "Are you sure?" I asked, looking up at her from between her legs.

"I'm sure." She sounded sure, but she didn't look sure. I'd take it slow and ease her into it. I wanted her to enjoy this, because this moment could change everything. I lifted her legs, settling them over my shoulders.

"If you want me to stop, just say the word." I reassured her and she nodded, bracing herself for what was about to happen. I kissed her lower stomach as I ripped the sides of her panties and tossed them off of the bed. I dipped my tongue into her warm folds and she gasped. "You're so wet." I murmed and delved in deeper.

"Oh god Damon..." She moaned and I moved up to her clit, running my tongue over it. Her hips jerked and she sucked in a breath. I smiled and slowly slid a finger in her, watching her back arch up off of the bed. I move it in and out slowly. I have her writhing on the bed and gasping for air before I stop. I move back up her body and kiss her, she tangles her hands in my hair. She's thrusting up against me and she's so warm and wet that I can feel her through my pants. She pulls her knees up to my sides and tries to push my pants down with her feet. She groans in frustration when they get stuck above my knees. I wiggle as she pushes and I manage to get them off of my feet. By the time we accomplish this she's laughing a little.

"I think I just killed the mood." I say a little irritated with myself. She wraps her legs around me, pressing my erection up against her wet folds and I groan. "Okay, maybe not."

"Go slow, okay?" The nervous look is back in her eyes, and I'm suddenly serious. I nod and position myself over her opening, making eye contact before pushing in slowly. She tensed and I slowed to an almost unoticable pace. I felt her muscles relax a little and that was when I hit it.

"Elena take a deep breath, cause this may hurt a little." I warned her. She tenses again and I push in firmly but not too roughly.

"It's not there." She whispers.

"What?" I ask, even though I'm a little preoccupied with the fact that she feels so good.

"It's the horse back riding. It's probably been gone for years." She explains.

"I didn't know that could happen." I respond and start moving in and out slowly. Elena responds right away, wrapping her legs around me and letting out a soft moan. That's all it takes for me and I'm moving a little faster now. I work her into a frenzy and she's letting out noises that almost push me over the edge.

"Elena..." I'm so close, but I want her there with me. I sit up, pulling her with me and let her take over. She's moving up and down my hard length now and her face is flushed. She grips my shoulders to steady herself and starts moving in circular motions and I have to take several deep breaths to keep from coming undone. And then she starts spasming around me and I lay her back down and thrust into her harder and faster.

"Damon...Damon..." She sounds a little panicked.

"It's okay...come for me baby..." I whisper in her ear and she comes undone, gasping for breath, her back arching up off of the bed and her hands clawing my back. And follow her, thrusting in hard one last time, before spilling my seed deep inside of her. I collapse on top of her as she tries to catch her breath. After a moment I roll off to the side so she can breath easier, feeling the loss of contact.

"Wow...just wow. Damon, that was amazing." Elena breaths, a huge grin on her face. "I don't think I'm going to be able to keep my hands off of you now." She informs me.

"It only gets better from here." I tell her and she groans, rolling over, so that her head is resting on my chest. "We better get some rest." I whisper, kissing the top of her head. She nods and pulls the covers that we kicked down to the bottom of the bed back up over us. Shortly after that her breathing evened out as she fell sleep.

I woke up to my alarm going off at five, Elena was still curled up to my chest. I reached over and turned my alarm off. I slowly moved her back onto her pillow and slipped off of the bed. I padded into the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. The warm water felt good first thing in the morning, and I felt wide awake by the time I got out. After I got dressed, I made some coffee and left a note on the fridge for Elena, telling her where I was and when I'd be back, if she decided to stay here. Then I hooked Midnights leash to his collar and headed out the front door.

It had apparently rained during the night, the air was crisp and cool. Fog lingered just above the ground as I drove out to the ranch. And then as I was pulling up to the barn, a thought occured to me...I hadn't used any protection the night before. My heart stopped for a moment and I had to take a deep breath. "Fuck." I said to myself as I got MIdnight out of the truck.

I put Midnight in his usual stall and got to work. It was hard to focus though, I was even tempted to call Elena, but I wondered if she was on birth control. Lots of girls her age were these days. I told myself that she was in order to get my work done. I was in the middle of putting the horses out to pasture when Elena drove up. I continued with my work so that I could spend my lunch break with her. When I finished she was sitting on a bench in the barn with a ziploc bag holding two sandwiches and two bottles of water. "You made me lunch?" I asked smiling as I walked over to her.

"Of course, I figured you'd be hungry seeing as how you didn't eat breakfast." She said in a mock stern voice.

"It's hard to function enough to eat breakfast at five am." I sat down next to her and she handed me a sandwich.

"Yeah, I don't know how you get up that early. I didn't even hear you leave. Will we have time to ride a little today?" She asked hopeful and then took a bite of her own sandwich.

"We should have plenty of time. I technically have a two hour lunch break, so the horses have time to run." I said smiling at her. I was wolfing down my sandwich, hunger had snuck up on me. I chugged half of my water and then sat and waited patiently for her to finish.

"Hey, Damon, there's something I meant to tell you last night, but I kind of forgot." She said suddenly after finishing her sandwich.

"What's that?"

"I meant to tell you that I was on birth control, but in middle of everything, I kind of forgot." I needed to play it cool, I didn't want her to know that I had been secretly freaking out about it.

"Oh, that's good. I was actually going to go get some condoms after work today, but I guess we don't need them then." I stood up and held out my hand to Elena. She took my hand and I pulled her up to me. She blushed when our bodies made contact and I smiled. "Let's go saddle up Mint." I tell her and she blinks and then nods. We rode Mint until I absolutely had to go back to work. And while I brought horses in, Elena was in his stall brushing him down. Elena had decided that she was going to go home that night, since her mom was coming over the next day. I dreaded the moment I had to tell her goodnight, taking my time closing up the barn. When it was finally time to go and Midnight was loaded in the truck, I stood leaning against the door with Elena between my legs.

"I don't want to go." She said quietly while I kissed my way down her neck to her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I moved back up to kiss her lips and she moaned against my tongue. I smiled, cause I knew I could keep her here as long as I wanted just by kissing her. I gripped her hips, pulling her against my growing erection. She tangled her hands in my hair, holding me to her as she deepened the kiss. She was standing on her tip toes to reach me better, her chest pressed to mine as she kissed me fiercely. I couldn't get enough, I turned us so she was pressed up against the truck. She's practically climbing up my body, biting at my lip, and I'm groaning into our kiss. I lift her up and she doesn't hesitate to wrap her legs around my waist. I nip at her ear, relishing the sounds she's making. She grinds her hips against me and it sends electricity surging through my body. And then I'm pulling at the button on her pants while she clings to me, while biting and sucking at my bottom lip. It occurs to me as I'm unzipping her jeans that we are out in the open. I start walking us to the bed of my truck. She pulls out of the kiss as I drop the tailgate. I set her down on it and climb up next to her. I took her hand and pulled her up to her feet. I led her to the tool box on the back of my truck and before I could sit down, the dropped to her knees. I was shocked when she started to undo my pants, glancing up at me through her lashes. The look on her face stole my breath away, she pulled my pants down just past my upper thighs and pushed me into a sitting position. My cock was exposed, but I didnt' have time to think about how that made me feel. She pushed her pants and underwear down to her ankles and stepped out of them. Then she straddled me, positioning herself over me, I took a shaky breath, preparing myself for what she was about to do. She slowly lowered herself onto me.

"Fuck, Elena...you feel so good." I breathed as she took me in slowly. She let out a ragged breath and started to move up and down. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her, she looked so beautiful. And all I can think about is how much I want to spend the rest of my life with this woman. I captured her lips in a kiss, gripping her hips and steadying her movement. I worshipped her body with my lips, moving from her mouth to her neck to her shoulder. I looked up at her, making eye contact, before lifting her shirt high enough to kiss the center of her chest. She ran her hands through my hair, stopping at the back to hold me to her as I kissed her mouth again. And I'm plotting a proposal in my head as she goes over the edge taking me with her. We're laying on the toolbox in the back of my truck, fully clothed again, her head resting on my chest and our legs intertwined. I know she needs to go home and so do I, but I can't let her go. The sun has set and the stars are bright in the sky as I stare up at them wondering how I got so lucky.

"I should let you go home. It's getting late and you have to get up early." She said quietly. She's gripping my shirt tightly in her fist and I wonder why she does that. Is she afraid that if she doesn't she might lose me? I sit us up, so she'll feel more inclined to go home. Because as much as I could lay here holding her all night, we both need sleep.

"Okay, I'll walk you to your truck." I said as we stood up and climbed out of the truck. I held out my hands to help her down, and we walked hand in hand to her truck. She opened the door and climbed in, she leaned over to give me a kiss, before closing the door. I stood there as she started the truck and rolled down her window.

"I'll call you tomorrow." She said and blew me a kiss. I caught the kiss in my hand and pressed it to my heart.

"Alright, sleep tight Elena." She smiled and pulled away. I walked back to my truck and got in, Midnight barked making me jump. "I know, it sucks that we dont get to spend all of our time with her. But one day that will change and we will get to be with her everyday. I promise." I said, starting the truck and pulling away.

I took Midnight for a short walk before heading into the apartment and pouring myself a glass of bourbon. I sat at the island reading a book, waiting for the alcohol to kick in so I could get some sleep. I had a feeling that without Elena, I would have a hard time getting a good nights rest. I already missed the feel of her soft skin and her hand caressing my chest as we slipped away from the world, dreaming of each other, wrapped in each others arms. I poured another glass of bourbon and took it into the bathroom with me. I looked at the shower and decided I'd rather soak in the tub. I filled my huge tub to the brim with hot water and stripped out of my clothes. I smelled like horses, which was a smell I loved, but I knew my sheets smelled like Elena. I wanted to crawl into bed and smell her, not the horses. The only smell I loved more than horses was Elena. I slipped into the tub, relishing the feel of the hot water scolding my skin just the tiniest bit. I picked up my glass of bourbon and took a sip. The alcohol was kicking in faster now that I was sitting in the hot water. My muscles relaxed and my breathing evened out as the boubon took effect. I sighed contentedly and laid my head back against the cool tile that lined the wall behind the tub. Midnight walked in wagging his tail and sat by the tub, he stared at me until I acknowledged him. "What do you want?" I sing songed.

Midnight just barked at me and left the bathroom. I closed my eyes for a second before soaping myself down and rinsing off. I let the tub drain and put on some pajama pants, I almost put on a shirt and then I realized that there were no teenagers lurking around. I tossed my shirt on the chair in the corner and crawled into bed. I tossed and turned for a while, trying to get comfortable. Finally I pulled Elena's pillow to my face and breathed her scent in deeply. I was asleep before I knew it was coming.

The next morning was hard. I woke up at five, made my coffee, took something for my headache, got dressed, grabbed Midnight, and headed to work. I was sluggish for most of the morning, not finishing my work until after twelve. I spent my lunch break in the car taking a nap, then got back to work. I was surprised that I didn't hear from Elena, but I just figured she was having fun with her mom. I was done by seven thirty and loaded Midnight into the truck to head home. My phone buzzed not long after I left the ranch, I picked it up and glanced at the screen, it was Elena. I opened the text, glancing back at the road before reading it.

I'm headed to your place.

That was short and not like Elena, what was going on? I drove a little faster and shot her a quick text telling her I was on my way home. When I pulled up to my apartment building, I got Midnight out of the car and hurried inside to shower. It was the quickest shower I'd ever taken. I was dressed in my pajama pants before Elena even knocked on the door. When I opened the door Elena rushed into my arms. "Are you okay?" I asked, holding her tight.

"I had the worst day." She sobbed and my heart broke a little.

"Come on, lets go lay down and you can tell me what happened." I took her into my room and pulled out some pajamas for her. "I'll go in the other room while you change." I wanted to be a gentleman about it, since something was obviously bothering her.

"Don't leave." It was just a whisper, but I heard it. I sat on the edge of the bed, my back to her as she stripped down and got dressed. She walked around the bed to me when she was done. I swallowed hard because she was just wearing my shirt and a pair of black lacy underwear. "My parents are mad." That was never a good thing to hear.

AN: Have to throw a little drama in there. Hope you like the update!


	9. Chapter 9

"My parents are mad." She was pouting and I wanted so bad to bite that lip, but I needed to be the good boyfriend and listen. So I pulled her onto the bed with me and wrapped her in my arms. "They found out that I was seeing you and I got the interrogation."

"How did they find out?" I was pretty sure that Katherine was done ratting me out, but I could be wrong.

"My phone, I left it in the living room while I was getting dressed this morning. My mom apparently doesn't think I need any privacy. Then they went on and on about how I didn't have a future with you and that you still lived with your mom. So I explained to them how you moved out and have a job now. Of course that didn't help any, they said all kinds of horrible stuff. I was actually embarrassed to call them my parents. So, I told them I was an adult now and they didn't have any say in my life anymore." There were tears rolling down her cheeks now and I knew that something bad was happening.

"Did they do anything or did they leave it alone after that?" I already knew the answer, but she needed to get it out.

"They're moving me back home." She sobbed, clinging to my shirt. "They want to make sure that I stay away from you." I felt it in my heart before I knew it in my head. She was breaking up with me, possibly until she graduated college. "I don't have a job, my parents are paying for my apartment. I have no say in this. And I'll be out of there by the end of the week." I didn't know what to say, so I just held onto her while she cried. When she finally started to calm down, she pulled back and looked at me. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were red and puffy. "I won't get to see you for at least a few months, maybe a year. I have to save up some money so I can move out. But I wanted to tell you that until I do, I'm breaking up with you."

"Elena, no...I'll wait for you, even if it's two years or three, I'll be here waiting. There's no one else for me." The pain that had been in my chest grew and I could feel the tears burning behind my eyes. I didn't let them fall, because I wanted to be strong for her, if I broke down I wasn't sure she'd be able to pull herself together again.

"I'm not saying you have to see anyone else. But it's not fair to you. And my parents aren't going to let me out of their sight. They think that you're taking advantage of me. I'll call when I can, but I needed to spend one last night with you." She was crying again and I pulled her closer to me, holding onto her tight. I wasn't good enough for her and I knew it, chances were, she'd move on a with a guy that was right for her. She'd meet him while she was at school, realize how much of a loser I was and never talk to me again.

"I don't want anyone else. I only want you. I'll be waiting for you, I promise. And if anything ever changes, you say the word and I'll let you go. I just want you to be happy Elena." I whispered and she shook with the force of her crying. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her smell. I didn't ever want to forget what she smelled like. I listened as her sobs subsided and her breathing evened out. When I was sure she was asleep, I rolled onto my back, letting her settle on my chest. The past two months had gone by way too fast and deep down I knew that at the end of the summer I would lose her. But I didnt' think it would be like this. I figured she would have met a guy closer to her age and moved on. It would have been easier that way, because she would have been happy. But knowing that it was breaking her heart to leave me, made me feel so much worse. I almost wanted to go talk to her parents and prove that I wasn't who they thought I was. But somehow, I thought that might actually make it worse. I had to find a way to keep her from moving back home, but how did I do that without making her parents hate me more. I ran my hands through her soft tresses and tried to sleep.

I woke up at four in the morning in a panic. My heart pounding in my chest and breathing hard, I'd broken out in a cold sweat too. Elena was sitting up in bed, staring at me. "Are you okay? I've never heard you cry like that in your sleep before." Had I been crying?

"I'm okay." I tried to reassure her, but my voice betrayed me.

"I'll be right back." She said slipping out of bed. I hated the loss of contact, I didn't want to waste a single second with her. I flopped back on the bed though, I felt to weak to sit up. Was I getting sick or had it just been a bad nightmare? My stomach turned and I decided that it was probably both. I hadn't been sick in years and it was long overdue. I took a deep breath trying to stop the shakes that were coursing through my body. My head was starting to throb and the room was spinning a little bit. I realized that I hadn't eaten at all the day before and I probably just needed to eat something. But at this point I wasn't sure that I could keep it down. Elena walked back in the room with a glass of water and a wet wash cloth. "Drink some water." She said handing me the glass and climbing back into bed.

"I think I'm coming down with something. You probably shouldn't get too close." I warned her, but she moved right up next to me and put the cold cloth on my head.

"I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. I'm gonna call your boss and let him know that you aren't feeling well." She said reaching over me to grab my phone. While it was ringing, she removed the cloth and felt my head. "You're burning up." She whispered.

"Hello? I'm sorry to call so early in the morning. But Damon woke up this morning with a fever...yes, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take him to the doctor...I'll have him bring you a note...Okay, again, I'm so sorry. Thank you, bye." She ended the call and set my phone on the bed beside her. "Okay, now lay down and try to get some more rest. I'm going to make you some soup and grab some tylenol for the fever." She climbed off of the bed again and left the room.

I took another sip of water and laid back down. How could I have been so stupid? It was my last night with her and I'd made myself sick. So, now instead of me taking care of her, she had to take care of me. "I'm an idiot." I told no one in particular. I stared up at the ceiling, willing the room to stop spinning. I was glad that I wasn't throwing up, I at least had that going for me. That was the last thing I wanted Elena to see.

"Here, see if you can eat some of this. It's canned soup, but that was all you had." She said giving me an apologetic look. I shivered and took the warm bowl of soup. The room felt so cold, and I knew for a fact that my fever had gotten high. I took a spoonful of chicken noodle soup and sipped it, feeling the warm liquid slide down my throat. I wanted to inhale it now, I was so cold and it warmed me from the inside. But I took my time, waiting a few minutes between bites, hoping it didn't come back up.

"Is it helping?" Elena asked placing the cold cloth on my forehead again. I nodded, because that was all I could manage at this point. I had a feeling my boss was going to be pissed, because he was probably going to have to do my job for me. I made a mental note to make it up to him at some point. Elena took my bowl when I was done and set it on the side table. I took my tylenol to bring the fever down, Elena wouldn't let me get away with not taking it. I laid back down and closed my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to spend the day just looking at her, but I felt so weak that I was asleep in minutes.

"Damon?" I smiled, I loved the sound of her voice. "Damon?" She sing songed again. I let my eyes open just the tiniest bit. "It's after nine and you need to go to the doctor." She said running her hand up my chest. I actually felt a lot better, my fever was gone, my headache was a faint memory, and my stomach was growling.

"I'm starving." I mumbled sitting up next to Elena. She giggled and kissed my cheek.

"You look like you feel a lot better. What do you want for breakfast?" She asked moving to straddle me. I ran my fingers through her hair as I thought about what sounded good for breakfast. It was then that I remembered that I was losing her. I forgot all about my stomach and moved a hand behind her neck, kissing her fiercely. She reacted instantly, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing herself into me. I don't want to pull away, but I remembered the reason I was sick the night before and decided that I really should eat something. So, I pulled back and whispered in her ear.

"I want you for breakfast...but I think I'm going to have a burger first." She burst into a fit of giggles and fell back on the bed. I was too tempted and couldn't resist, I moved over top of her and tickled her sides, causing her to laugh harder and wiggle underneath me.

"Damon! Stop!" She squealed, pushing at my shoulders, but my hips made contact with hers and she wrapped her legs around me. It was an odd feeling to have her pushing me away and pulling me closer all at the same time. I didn't stop though, I tickled her until tears were running down her cheeks and she was gasping for air.

"Okay, let's go get breakfast." I said sitting back up, leaving her flushed and out of breath. It was my favorite look on her. Elena sat up and swatted me on the shoulder, before climbing off the bed. I started to follow her, but then I realized that I had caused myself a problem, that didn't seem to want to go away.

"Where do you want to go?" She asked as she pulled her shirt off over her head, I ran a hand through my hair. She wasn't making this easy for me. "Why are you still on the bed? I thought you were hungry?" Her tone was innocent but her eyes told me different.

"You are not being fair." I said huskily.

"Alright, I'll ease off. But promise me that after we go get something to eat, you'll spend the day in bed with me." It was a bittersweet request, because it didn't change the fact that she was leaving me. But I didn't let it show, because she needed this day, and I would give her anything she wanted.

"I promise." I got up off of the bed, not hiding the fact that I wanted her and went to the dresser to get dressed. I pretended that I didn't notice the way she was staring at me while she got dressed. A few minutes later, we were somewhat presentable. We were walking towards the door, when I got an idea. "Hey, do you remember telling me how much you wanted to ride in my truck?" I asked smirking as I picked up my keys.

"Yes..." She gave me a questioning look.

"How about I let you drive it?" I tossed her the keys and her face lit up as she caught them. I was going to give her the best damn date of her life, so that when this was all over, she'd come back to me. I was going to show her how much I loved her and hopefully at the end of the day, I'd tell her too.

"Yes please!" She said excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. I took her hand and we headed out to the truck. She unlocked the doors and we climbed in. "How did you get such a nice truck?"

"My mom bought it for me, one year, when we had tons of campers. We made a ton of money that year, so she bought me a truck for my birthday." I had a red Ford Raptor and it was one of my prized possessions, second only to my horse.

"Lucky!" She started the truck and backed out.

"How did you get your truck?" She had a blue Toyota Tundra, and it looked brand new.

"Also a birthday present. I think my parents thought I was traumatized after the whole thing with you going to jail. I've never gotten anything like that for a my birthday before. My first car was a used sedan." She explained.

"Well, I'm glad something good came from that." I said chuckling. She smiled at me as we drove down the highway to the nearest burger joint. She handled my truck a lot better than I expected, I had to admit that I was impressed. She pulled up to the drive through and looked at me expectantly.

"Double cheeseburger, large fries, and a coke." She smiled.

"You really are hungry aren't you?" She teased and turned her attention to the lady that was talking over the speaker. She ordered herself something to eat too and we pulled up to the window. I pulled out my wallet and handed her a twenty, so she could pay for the food. They handed us our drinks and then we had to wait for the burgers.

"So, what do you want to do when we get back?" I asked, curious about what would make this day special for her.

"I want to ride Mint one last time." She said, her expression suddenly sad. "But first you need a doctors note, so your boss knows you were actually sick." I nodded once, having forgotten that I'd been sick. Being with Elena had erased that from my memory.

"Okay, so doctors office next and then out to the ranch." I said in agreement as we were handed our food. Elena pulled away from the window and drove out onto the highway again, heading in the direction of the closest doctors office. I ate my burger as she drove, fully realizing how hungry I had been. By the time we reached our destination, I had eaten my burger and fries, and drank half of my soda.

The doctor checked me out and after I told him that I'd forgotten to eat for a full day, he released me. He mentioned that I need to make sure to eat three square meals a day and wrote a note for my boss and then we were on our way. "Why didn't you tell me that you hadn't eaten all day? I would have made you dinner when I got there." Elena said smacking me on the back of the head.

"Ow." I rubbed my head as we climbed back into the truck. "I honestly didn't realize it until I woke up sick. I promise it won't happen again." I defended myself.

"It better not." She said sternly but then glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and smiled. I was driving so she could eat, so I started the truck and headed out to the ranch. My boss was no where to be found when I got there, but the horses were out in the pasture. That meant that we had somewhere around two hours to ride Mint, or he might put me to work.

We got out of the truck and headed inside to get Mint's lead rope. I let Elena go out and get him, because she wanted to say her temporary goodbyes. I watched her hug him and whisper things to him, her eyes tearing up and shining in the sunlight. I hated this, there had to be a way to fix it. She led Mint over to where I was standing and we took him into the barn and saddled him up. We decided to wander off from the marked paths near the ranch and explore a little. "It's so pretty up here." Elena had been silent so far, it jarred me out of my thoughts when she started talking.

"It is, but you're prettier." I heard her breath hitch and I smiled. My hands were gently caressing her hips as we rode slowly into the forest. "Do you hear that?" I asked.

"It sounds like rushing water." She stopped the horse and we listened for a minute. "Wanna go check it out?" She sounded excited and I couldn't tell her no.

"Anything you wanna do." Elena steered Mint in the direction of the rushing water. As we got closer, it got louder and louder. "Is that a waterfall?" As we came around a large boulder, there was a huge waterfall that fell into a deep pond, that trickled into a river. It was amazing and beautiful.

"Oh my gosh, I wonder if anyone knows about this place. This is amazing." Elena said in awe. She stopped Mint and we climbed off, she tied him to a tree, but loosely just in case.

"So, what's your plan, Lena?" I asked wrapping my arms around her from behind. I moved her hair off of her shoulder and kissed her neck. She shivered slightly under my lips before turning to face me. she brushed her lips over mine and started slowly backing away. She smirked at me as she pulled her shirt over her head, one agonizing inch at a time. When she lifted it over her head, her hair fell over her bare shoulders. I couldn't bring myself to move, I was mesmerized.

"I thought we'd go swimming." She said coyly and popped the button on her jeans. My cock twitched and I swear my jaw dropped. She wiggled her hips until they reached her ankles and then stepped out of them. She whirled around, walking towards the water, her hips swaying sensually. She reached the edge of the pool and looked over her shoulder to smile at me before diving into the cool water. I had to shake my head to bring myself out of the trance she put me in.

"What the hell am I doing?" I quickly stripped down to my boxers and followed her in. I came up a moment after her, shivering while my body adjusted to the cool water. Elena swam closer to me and I looked for a part of the pool that was shallower.

"Follow me, I think we can reach over there." It was like she read my mind. We swam to the other side and my feet touched the silt. Elena swam to the other side of me and then pulled me to her. She had me pressed right up against her and was holding me there. "You wanna know what I really want to do today?" The implications in her voice made me shudder.

"What's that?" I whisper, not trusting my voice.

"I want you to take me...in the water..." She whispered back. I slipped a hand behind her neck and kissed her gently. She was rolling her hips against mine with an urgency I'd never seen in her before. Her wet body was sliding against mine and I suddenly wished that I had taken my boxers off. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I moved my hands down to grip her hips. I have to keep a wide stance to keep from falling over, the ripples from the waterfall lapping against my sides. She kissing her way down my neck now and I'm moaning so loudly that you can hear it over the roar of the water.

"I want you naked." I managed to get out between my gasps for air. It feels so good to have her lips on my skin, but the way she's grinding against me is going to make me lose it soon. I set her down on her feet and she reaches under the water. I can't see what she's doing, but after a moment she brings her hand up, holding her panties. She tosses them to shore and then hooks her fingers in the hem of my boxers. She pulls them as far down as she can without submerging her head in the water and I step out. She tosses those to shore as well. The water barely comes up past my hips, so I step back a little so that she'll be covered. I lift her again, letting her wrap her legs around my waist. I lift her a little higher and slowly lower her onto me. I groan at how tight she is and she sucks in a deep breath at the intensity of the contact. "Fuck, your so tight, Lena." I whisper.

"You feel so good." She starts moving up and down and I'm staring at her, because I can't get enough. Her wet hair is clinging to her shoulders, droplets of water running down her neck and over the swell of her breasts. Her nipples are erect from the cool water and I can't help but take one in my mouth, swirling my tongue over it. She moans and it makes my cock throb deep inside her. I suddenly want better leverage to take her faster and harder. I slowly walk us to the sandy shore and lay her back on the soft ground. I've heard bad things about sex in the sand, but I could care less at this point. I brace myself on the ground and pound into her harder, spurred on more when she arches her back, pressing her soft breasts into my bare chest. "Damon, I'm so close..."

My name comes out a moan and I lay my forehead against her shoulder to keep control of myself and slow my pace a little. But when I thrust in, I go so deep that my pelvic bone is hitting her clit and she lets out a cry. I don't want it to be over yet, but she's tightening around me, holding my cock in just a little longer than before. I kiss her shoulder and her neck and then her mouth, massaging her tongue with my own. I pull almost all the way out and then pound back in. I do this one, two, three more times before she's throwing her head back, bearing her neck to me, and letting out a scream that sounds a lot like my name. She so tight around me, her juices coating my cock, as she orgasms. And I can't hold back anymore, all the muscles in my body tighten as I thrust into her one last time, spilling my seed deep inside her. She relaxes beneath me and I collapse on top of her. I roll over after a moment, so she can breath easier. "I'm going to miss this..." She says quietly, I look over at her, and only then do I notice that tears are rolling down her cheek.

"Hey, come here." I say rolling onto my side and pulling her into my chest. "It's going to be okay, we're going to get through this." I reassure her as she sobs into my chest.

"Do you promise?" She whispers as her sobs fade away.

"I promise." I kiss the top of her head and we lay for a while just listening to the roar of the waterfall, water droplets landing on our already wet skin. Eventually she stands up and so do I, we go back into the water to wash the sand off and then start the search for our clothes. My wet boxers a little uncomfortable under my jeans, but there's nowhere else to put them. Once we're fully clothed again, we get back on Mint and ride back to the ranch.

"Do you think your boss will be mad when he realizes what you were doing today instead of working?" Elena asks, concern lacing her voice. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

"I think it will be okay. Once I explain to him that I was sick until nine this morning, he'll be okay with it." To our surprise though, the sun is setting when we get back and the horses are back in their stalls and fed.

"Guess we had nothing to worry about." Elena says as I remove Mint's saddle and bridle. We brush him down good and return him to his stall. His dinner is waiting for him and lets out a happy whinny when he walks in. I latch the stall door and wrap an arm around Elena's shoulders as we walk back out to the truck. The day had gone by way to fast and I wasn't ready to let her go yet. She slept on the way to my apartment, exhausted from the days activities. I pulled up to a drive through to order us some chinese food before returning home. When I shut the truck off, she stirs, stretching her arms and yawning. "Are we here already?" She has a look of terror in her eyes and I don't know what to say to make it better.

"Yes, but I got us some dinner. I figured I could feed you before you head home." She cheers up a little at that and we head inside.

"So, I got chinese food. Do you want chopsticks or a fork?" I ask setting the food on the counter.

"Chopsticks please." She says cheerily, coming out of my bedroom dressed in my pajama pants and a black shirt. She set her folded wet clothes on the floor by the door, so she wouldn't forget them. I kind of hoped she did, so I'd have something to remember her by when she left.

"Alright." I set her plate down on the bar and then mine, before joining her on the other side. I'm awed by the fact that she can use chopsticks, she's a pro with them. "Show off." I whisper, smirking at her. She just smiles and takes another bite.

We eat in silence, both of us afraid to say anything to ruin the great day that we're having. When we're done, we throw away the trash and clean up the kitchen. I'm wiping the bar down when Elena's phone goes off. I freeze as she checks the text message, the look on her face says it all. "It's my mom, my sister is leaving for my place in twenty minutes to stay the night and help me pack."

"Okay." Is all I can manage, I set the dish cloth by the sink and walk over to where she is. She falls into my arms and clings to me tightly. I rest my cheek on the top of her head, breathing in her intoxicating scent one last time. She pulls back after a moment, looking up at me with that innocent look that she had on her face the first night in the barn. She frames my face with her hands and pulls me down for one last bittersweet kiss. This time there is no fire, no passion, its a soft and silent goodbye. When she pulls away, she turns her back to me, grabs her clothes and opens the door. It's out before I can think it through, but I have to tell her before she disappears, possibly forever. Just a whisper..."I love you

AN: Dun dun dun...so that's it for now, tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: So, I had to give Damon something to do while Elena was away. It was a hard long chapter to write, but the end is worth it. Enjoy!

It's been three ridiculously long and boring weeks. I've managed to waste most of my savings on bourbon, piss off my boss, and let my apartment get filthy. I'm currently lounging on the couch, bottle of bourbon clutched loosley in my hand, drunk off of my ass. Midnight it sitting on the floor in front of the couch, just staring at me and barking every so often. I should probably take him outside, do my dishes, and wash my laundry. But then, what is the point? No one is coming over, it's just gonna be me for at least another five months, if not longer. I still remember that night, clear as day, like a dream and a nightmare all in one. I'd told her I loved her at the end of it all. But, she didn't look back at me, she only paused for a second and then whispered "I can't."

I took a drink of my bourbon and rolled off of the couch. It was late friday night and other than riding Mint tomorrow afternoon, I had no plans for the weekend. My mom was doing some remodeling around the ranch and refused to let me help. I hadn't had single phone call from Elena since she left and those were really my only two options. I stumbled into the kitchen, in search of Midnight's leash. It was buried underneath take out boxes and dirty dishes. I carefully pull it out, trying not to knock things over, but they topple off the counter anyway. "Shit!" I hiss, jumping out of the way.

I hook Midnight's leash to his collar and head towards the door to my apartment, when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I frown, because I haven't heard that sound in a long time, I'd forgotten my phone was in my pocket. I pull it out and look at the screen, my heart stops. She'd texted me...I wasn't sure if I wanted to look at it or not. In the end, I lost the battle and opened the message.

I miss you.

That was all she had said and I stuck it back in my pocket, too hurt to respond just yet. I walk out the door and down to the parking lot. I take Midnight to his usual spot and stand around waiting. The world is spinning slightly and I'm hoping he gets done fast so that I can collapse on my bed and sleep off the alcohol. I wobble a little and finally give up, sitting on the curb while Midnight runs around excitedly. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but a little while later I'm waking up to Elena's face. Only it's not her, I can tell by the look in her eyes and the smirk on her face. "Damon, I found your dog wandering out by the road. I was on my way to Elena's old place from a nearby bar and I was a little worried." She helps me sit up and I have to close my eyes for a moment.

"Katherine...don't tell Elena." I manage to get out through the pain.

"I won't, let's get you inside and in bed." She says and I sigh.

"I don't think-"

"I'm not going to take advantage of you." She cuts me off. "I just know that if something happened to you, Elena would be heart broken. I'll tuck you in and then I'll take off, I promise." She says holding up her right hand.

"Okay." She helps me to my feet and wraps an arm around me to keep my drunk ass from falling over. Only then do I notice that she's got Midnight's leash in her hand. He's sitting by her feet waiting patiently and I'm reminded of the time that he tied me and Elena together. I stumble my way up to the apartment with Katherine's help and she settles me in bed. The sheets still smell like her and I let out a strangled sob. Katherine stops on her way out of the bedroom and turns around to face me. "I miss her and I know I sound like a pussy right now. But I don't think I can do this much longer."

"Damon." Katherine comes back over and sits on the side of the bed. "She's coming back for you. As long as you'll take her, she'll be back. She got a job last week and she's working nights to make money to move out. Just be strong a little longer and take a damn shower." She adds at the end and I can't help but laugh.

"She texted me tonight." I add when I finally calm down. "I haven't texted her back yet, because I don't think I can handle talking to her and not seeing her. I have no one to distract me until she comes back. I'm kind of a loser in the sense that I have no friends." I'm sitting up against the headboard now and I hate that Katherine is seeing me like this. No one should have to see me like this.

"Well, now you have one." My eyes snap up at that. "I will be your friend and keep you busy until she gets back." She gives me a cheery smile and tucks me in. "Now get some sleep, because I'll be here bright and early to distract you." She orders and leaves the room. I'm out before I can process the fact that I just made friends with Katherine, Elena's twin sister.

When I wake up in the morning, due to a stomach ache, my room smells like cleaning products. I sit up slowly and look around my room. All the clothes are picked up off of the floor and the dirty clothes hamper is empty. I frown and climb out of bed. I walk into the bathroom and it's just as clean as my bedroom. After using the bathroom and taking a hot shower, I get dressed, finding that all my clothes are clean and put away. Had Katherine really taken the time to clean my apartment last night? That would have taken her at least a couple of hours to accomplish. Freshly showered and dressed, I walk in the kitchen to find the coffee pot going and breakfast waiting on the island. I look around, thinking Katherine was in the room somewhere, but she's not there. I pour myself some coffee and sit at the bar to eat. I'm about halfway done when the front door opens. "Hey, you're up!" She says happily, striding into the apartment.

"Uh, yeah, thanks for cleaning up. You didn't have to do that." I reply awkwardly.

"It's what friends do. Now, eat your breakfast, because from what Elena tells me, you have a horse to go ride." She walks over to the fridge with a bag I hadn't noticed before and puts away the groceries that she bought.

"You bought groceries?" I ask, arching an eyebrow.

"I'm not eating canned soup and sandwiches every day." She replies and throws the bag in the trash. Then she heads into the extra bedroom. I'm not sure what she's doing in there, but I don't go find out. Instead, I finish my breakfast and coffee, then take my dishes to the sink to wash them. Midnight comes into the kitchen and wags his tail happily. I tell him goodmorning and give him a good tummy rub. I feel kind of bad that I've been neglecting him so much lately. I make a mental note to pick him up something special at the store later. When I stand back up, Katherine walks back into the room, holding my keys and her purse.

"Are we leaving?" I ask curiously.

"Yes, grab your phone and lets go." She says marching over to the door. I do as she says, grabbing my phone and hooking Midnight's leash to his collar. We drove around looking at ranch houses for a while, did a little shopping which I barely survived, and then drove out to the ranch to ride Mint. Katherine refused to get on the horse, so I rode in the arena where she could sit and watch. Luckily there were some jumps set up from the week, so I went over them several times, laughing at the way Katherine would flinch when Mints hooves left the ground. After a thirty minute workout for Mint, I took him back into the barn to brush him down and feed him a treat. I'm in the middle of putting up his saddle, when I hear Katherine talking to Mint. "What is she talking about?" I whisper to myself and go stand by the door, where she can't see me.

"We're gonna get him through this, me and you. Between the two of us, time will fly by so fast, he won't know what hit him. Cause no one likes seeing Damon sad, am I right?" Mint snorts in response and Katherine shrieks a little. I laugh and walk back out to put Mint in his stall.

"Are you okay?" I ask, closing his stall door behind me.

"Yeah, he's actually really sweet. I never got along with Elena's horse. I swear that thing hated me." I just laugh again and take Katherine's arm as we walk out of the barn together, Midnight in tow. From there we head back to my apartment to watch a movie that Katherine had bought while we were out shopping. She insisted that I get at least one, and that my movie collection was sorely lacking. I tried to explain to her that I didn't used to have time to watch movies and she just looked at me like I was crazy. I gave up and let her pick out one. She pops some popcorn and for a moment, while she's standing in front of the microwave, she looks just like Elena. But then she turns around and the moment is over, my heart sinks. She takes the popcorn out and joins me on the couch. She smiles at me and presses play. I've never heard of this movie before, but it has my interest. From what I understand it's about a girl who takes a test, finds out that the test results are inconclusive and has to keep this hidden from her family. I'm about halfway through the movie when I notice that Katherine is asleep. She's nestled into my side, just like Elena, and it's completely innocent, but it feels wrong. I lean my head back against the couch and try to calm my pounding heart. I turn my attention back to the movie and watch as the girl takes out a bunch of people and then runs away with the man she fell in love with. When the credits start rolling, I carefully move away from Katherine, setting her head gently on the couch. I walk into my bedroom, grab a blanket, and come back out to cover her with it.

"Stefan." She sighs and I smile, there's someone else and it makes everything seem okay again. I tuck her in, returning the favor, and grab my bottle of bourbon before heading into my bedroom.

Katherine and I continued this way for a long time, looking out for each other. She spent most nights on my couch and I wondered if she was dating Stefan or if she just had a thing for him. I would have to ask her at some point. We took turns making breakfast for each other, her on the weekdays and me on the weekends. I discovered that she was a decent cook and also that she liked to sing while she cooked. I'd woken up more mornings than not, to her singing some random pop song that I didn't recognize. Eventually we ran out of things to do and we started hanging out at the apartment and just talking to each other. I did find out that she had Stefan's number and that they talked all the time. She had been on one date with him, but he lived an hour and a half away, so they didn't see each other all that often. She told me about the things that they talked about and the sweet things he said about her. I was starting to realize that Katherine and Elena weren't all that different.

It was late one saturday night and I hadn't heard from Katherine all day, I was starting to get worried, when my phone went off. I picked it up off of the coffee table, setting down my glass of bourbon. I'd worked my way back down to drinking it out of a glass instead of a bottle, which helped me drink a lot less. I looked at the screen and suddenly wished that Katherine was with me.

I'll see you in a week.

Four little words and my world falls apart again. She was coming back...it'd been seven months of Katherine and me, I'd actually managed to keep my spirits up. I wondered if things would be the same, would she still want me the way she did? I needed a hair cut and a shave. I had told her I loved her and she hadn't said it back. I wasn't sure I was ready to face her again, but I couldn't tell her no.

I'm still here.

I simply put, not sure what else to say. I sent the message and put my phone back on the table. I went back to watching the movie that Katherine had insisted that I see. I still didn't know where she was. I picked up my phone and texted her.

Where are you?

She didn't text me back until the movie was over. I hadn't gotten ready for bed, taken Midnight out, and had another glass of bourbon by the time my phone went off.

I'm sorry, I got busy with school work. I had a paper to write and didn't have any time

to leave the apartment.

I rolled over onto my stomach and stared at the wall for a moment. She had to know that Elena was moving out, I was sure that they talked about everything these days. Katherine was always telling me how much Elena missed me. Why hadn't she told me?

She's coming back.

I texted her back and closed my eyes, trying to breath in Elena's scent, it had long since faded away, but it didn't stop me from trying. I wondered briefly if she would still smell the same.

I know.

I could almost hear the sympathy in her voice. How did she know me so well after such a short time. But when I thought about it, Elena knew me inside and out after a month.

You're not coming over anymore are you.

She didn't want to get in the way of our relationship, I could tell by the way she suddenly disappeared when Elena was suddenly coming back. On the downside, though, I missed my friend. A week without Katherine or Elena was going to be a long week.

Not unless Elena invites me over. Trust me, this is for the best. You'll be okay

And don't forget to shower.

I laughed, I trusted Katherine, as weird as that was. I knew that she was doing this for a reason, but it didn't mean that it sucked any less.

I won't lol. But just so you know...I'll miss you.

It takes her a little while to text back and I wonder if she's actually with Elena. If that were the case, she'd be trying to hide the fact that she's talking to me.

I'll miss you too, Damon. Goodnight.

I text her back goodnight and close my eyes, not bothering to put the phone on the charger. I'd probably sleep through anyone calling anyway. I hadn't told Katherine, but I'd only been getting about four hours of sleep at night. I close my eyes and while I'm sure I fell asleep, all I remember is seeing her face.

I wake up at five the next morning, exhausted from lack of sleep. I roll out of bed, get dressed, and make my coffee. On the way to the ranch, I stop at a gas station to grap some breakfast, a new habit of mine after the night I came down sick. When I pull up outside of the barn, the sun is just coming up over the horizon. I get out of the truck and let Midnight loose. He's big enough now that I don't have to keep him in the stall, but I have to watch him a little around the horses. He's pissed off more than one of them. I walk quickly through the barn, moving from memory as I clean stalls, brush horses, fill feed buckets, and then go to my truck for lunch. I sit in the front seat, Midnight sitting next to me as I eat the sandwich I keep in my fridge every night before work, so I can just grab it. I give him a bite of bread here and there, watching the clouds move across the sky. I pull out my phone and try sending a text to Elena, even though I have a feeling she won't answer, since she's either in class or with her parents.

Midnight is huge now.

It's a safe topic and if she responds, her parents shouldn't suspect anything. I don't know if they know that Elena got me a dog. I look over at him and he licks his chops, eyeing my half eaten sandwich. I smirk and give him another bite of bread, before taking a huge bite myself. I wonder if I'll always work from seven to seven or if I'll have a job that pays well enough for me to work shorter hours. I have a feeling that if I get Elena back, I'm going to want to spend as much time as possible with her. My phone buzzes and I open the message assuming that it's from Elena.

Did you get up and go to work? Are you doing okay?

It's Katherine, she sounds really concerned. I forgot to text her this morning to let her know that I wasn't falling to pieces again. I smile, because she turned out to be an unlikely friend. I finished my sandwich before texting her back.

I'm up and at work. I'm doing fine, just finished lunch and I ate breakfast. I'll be home

around seven. I know you said you shouldn't come over anymore, but I'd like to see

you.

I text her back and I pause for a moment, wondering if I shouldn't have done that. I shake it off and go back into the barn to saddle up Mint. We go for a short trail ride and I'm on my way back when I hear it again. The rushing water is faint but it's there. I pause for a minute, debating on whether I should go back there. I decide that I won't return there without Elena, it's a place that is only special with her. I ride back to the barn at a slightly faster pace than I'd been going. I put Mint back in his stall and finish my work at a liesurely pace. I finish around seven thirty, thinking that Katherine won't show anyway. I drive home the scenic way and go through a drive through to get a burger. I pull up outside my apartment around eight thirty, to find Katherine's car sitting in the parking lot. I roll my eyes and get out, letting Midnight out of the back seat. He takes off for the stairs at a run, knowing the routine by heart now. Katherine is waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me.

"You couldn't have told me you were going to be home late? I've been here since seven-fifteen." She says crossing her arms and glaring at me.

"I honestly didn't think you were going to show. So, I went for a drive and stopped to get a burger. But since you're here, what do you want to do?" I ask, starting up the stairs after Midnight, Katherine follows me, sighing in defeat. She must have been expecting me to get huffy right back.

"I'm not sure, it's too late to go do anything really. Do you wanna cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie?" She asks and it feels like thats all we ever do, but she's right, it's too late to go anywhere.

"Sure, its not like I am lacking movies these days. In fact, I have more movies than I have time to watch." I joke as I unlock the door and let Midnight in.

"Well, we have a week, so why don't we watch one a night until you've seen them all." She follows me inside and I lock the door behind her. Midnight has a hold of his squeaky toy that I bought him the other day. I walked around him, into the bedroom.

"I'm gonna shower, you make the popcorn and pick a movie and I'll be out in a bit." I call to her and close the bathroom door, not waiting for an answer. I started the hot water and stripped down. With the hot water, the smell of horse got a little more intense than it was before. I heard my phone buzz on the floor, inside my jeans pocket. I reached down and pulled my phone out of my pocket, checking the screen before I opened the message.

Can you send me a picture of him, pretty please! I miss him too.

I chuckled and set my phone on the counter, before climbing into the shower. The picture would have to wait until after my shower. The hot water relaxed my muscles as it sprayed over my body. I felt as though I might actually fall asleep in the shower, if I didn't get out soon. I scrubbed my body quickly and then shampooed my hair, massaging my scalp as I did so. When I was rinsed and clean, I got out and headed into my bedroom to get dressed. I picked out some pajama pants and a plain white shirt. I'd stopped sleeping without my shirt because I didn't want Katherine seeing more than she needed to. When I walked back out, the movie was already started and Katherine was eating popcorn like her life depended on it. I stood behind the couch for a moment and watched to see what movie she picked. I wasn't sure what it was called, but it had a lot of monkeys in it. I joined her on the couch a moment later, letting her curl up into my side, just like Elena used to. She sighed contentedly and continued munching on popcorn. I wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to Katherine whispering my name in my ear. "I'm up." I said in a daze and sat up. She was standing over me, with a smile on her face.

"Don't rush, it's only been an hour. I just thought you might want to sleep in your bed." She offered and helped me up off of the couch.

"Yeah, it tends to be more comfortable. Are you staying the night?" I ask hopeful, its just nice to know that someone else is in the apartment. She looks like she's thinking it over and then she just moves away from me. "Did I do something wrong?" I ask, following her into the kitchen.

"You're getting too attached, I'm afraid that this is going to get in the way of your and Elena's relationship. I'm gonna go and you're going to go to bed. Text me tomorrow, Okay?" She says, gathering her things. I just nod and walk into my bedroom, I flop down onto the bed and listen for her to leave the apartment. I fell asleep before I heard the front door shut.

I drag my butt through the next few days, using movies to keep me busy in my free time. I'm drinking bourbon every night, but not enough to get drunk. I've been there and done that and I don't want to do it again. I want myself in control when Elena comes back. I text Katherine all the time, but I don't invite her over anymore. I've ridden all the trails out at the ranch over the week, using it to keep me busy on my lunch break. By friday night I'm fried, walking like a zombie into my apartment. I let Midnight off of his leash and stumble into the bathroom and start the bath water running. Then I wander back into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of bourbon, taking it back into the bathroom with me. I set my glass on the almost full tub, turn of the water, and strip down. I slip into the water slowly, groaning at my sore muscles. Once I'm settled, I take my glass and take a drink. I swish the liquid around in the glass, watching it swirl. It's been a week and I haven't heard from her, did she change her mind?

"I don't know, Midnight. Maybe she did figure out that she could do better." Midnight barked at me. "Yeah, you're right. She'll be here." I lean back, resting my head against the tub. I take another drink and close my eyes. I hear Midnight leave the bathroom, he's bounding around the living room. I figure that he's playing with one of his toys, so I don't open my eyes. As I'm laying there my mind starts wandering, I remember how Elena's body feels pressed up against mine in the water. The way she gripped my hair, her soft lips brushing over mine. My body is reacting to the memory and I groan.

"Is the bath that good or are you dreaming about me?" I sit up suddenly, because I know that voice. She's standing just a few feet from the tub, a huge grin on her face.

"Elena." I feel like an idiot, because I can't form a coherent thought at the sight of her. I'm reminded of how different she is from Katherine. Even the look in her eyes is vastly different. I want to go to her and hold her, never let her go. But if I stand up out of the tub, it'll be a really awkward reunion. "I...I..." I'm stumbling over my words and she's just laughing at me.

"I'll be in the living room." She says through her giggles. I watch her leave, and I'm out of the tub so fast that the water hasn't even begun draining. As I'm getting my pajama pants on, I can't help but smile, life seems right again.


	11. Chapter 11

The situation with the bath had been a little embarrassing, but what followed was perfect. I walked into the kitchen to find her staring at my huge dvd collection, she looked a little confused, but I'd fix that. She heard me walk in and turned around, a smile spreading across her face. "Embarrassed that I saw you naked in the tub, but walks out shirtless." She comments.

"You just caught me by surprise, that's all." I say walking up to her and wrapping my arms around her. She feels like she lost a little weight, but other than that I'm home. She rests her head on my chest and takes a deep breath. "Are you smelling me?" I ask chuckling.

"Yes, I won't even deny it. I missed you so much, that I'm happy just to smell you again." She replies and wraps her arms around me tightly. I want to rush her to bed, take all of her clothes off and get familiar with her body again, instead, I take it slow.

"Let me pour you a glass of wine and you can tell me about what you've been doing for the past six months." I say, walking us slowly backwards towards the kitchen.

"I don't want to sit and talk, there are about a million other things I'd rather be doing with you right now." She whines and I laugh, but don't give in, not yet.

"I feel like I'm missing a part of who you are if you don't tell me. I wanna know where you worked, how your classes are going, where your new apartment is. Come on Elena, fill me in and then I'll fill you in." I whisper the end and relish the way her cheeks turn bright red. I missed that so much. She sighs in defeat and starts to pull away, but I can't let her go.

"If you want to pour some wine and talk, you're going to have to let go of me for a second." She says giggling.

"Says who? I'm pretty talented, I bet I could pull it off without letting go of you." And to make my point, I walk her around the island and lift her onto the counter by the fridge. From there I can reach the wine glasses and the wine. I pull out two wine glasses and a bottle of wine, all the while standing between her legs, which she has wrapped around my waist. I set the glasses on one side of her and the bottle of wine on the other side of her. I pop the cork out and fill both glasses, then put the cork back in and put the wine back in the fridge. I hand her a glass and smile at her triumphantly.

"Alright, so that was pretty smooth, Mr. Salvatore." She relents, taking a sip of wine. My body is making it known how much it missed her and it takes everything in me to ignore it. Elena on the other hand gives me a knowing look before launching into her story.

"So, I got a job working at the local grocery store, in my parents town. I didn't tell them I was working there, although they eventually figured it out. I saved every dime that I earned, I wanted to get back to you as fast as I could. I paid off the rest of my truck in the first month though, that way they had no way to control me. Classes are going good, so far I'm not failing anything. And I don't technically have an apartment yet. My parents are freaking out and won't talk to me and I'm pretty sure my sister is keeping something from me. She's been really secretive lately. But other than that life is good, I'm just glad that you're back in it."

I realize then that I have to tell her about the friendship between me and Katherine, I don't want to come between her and her sister. Plus, Katherine was dating Stefan now, so Elena didn't have anything to worry about. I lean my head against her shoulder, breathing in the smell of jasmine, before I tell her what I'm about to tell her. "I know what Katherine is keeping from you." I start and I pull away so that she can see my face.

"You do? But how do you..." I don't want her to jump to conclusions so I let it out.

"We hung out while you were gone. She uh, found me drunk in the parkinglot one night and since then, we've been watching movies together and stuff. It's just a friendship, but I didn't want you to find out from someone else." The look on her face scares me, I just got her back, I can't lose her again. "She's seeing a guy now too, remember Stefan from the camp?" I ask trying to change topics.

"Did you sleep with her?" She whispers and it's like a knife to the chest.

"No, no, of course not. We're just friends. I would never ever do that to you Elena. The reason she found me drunk in the parkinglot to begin with was because I couldn't handle losing you. Do really think I'd throw all of this, all that we have, away for nothing?" She pulls me closer to her, wrapping her arms around my neck. She stares me in the eyes for a moment.

"I just know how she can be, that's all. I trust you." I grip the counter a little harder than I need to, leaving lines on my palms. Can I blame her for asking? Last time I was drunk around Katherine, I'd danced with her. I make a mental note to not have Katherine over unless someone else is going to be there too.

"Okay." Is my lame response, Elena sits back, picking up her wine glass and taking a drink. I have yet to touch mine, but I don't care, I prefer the taste of her kisses over the exspensive wine I kept in my fridge. I wait until Elena sets her glass down before I lift her off the counter, catching her off guard. She squeals as I take off towards the bedroom and dump her unceremoniously on the bed. She's laughing the whole time and I'm just enjoying the sound. I climb up on the bed with her, hovering over her as she quiets. I run a hand from her upper thigh to her knee, hitching it up over my waist. That beautiful blush is back in her cheeks as I lean down, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead and cheek. I drag my lips down her neck to her shoulder, placing more kisses as I go. She grips my shirt and wraps her legs around my waist, trying to pull me to her, but I want to go slow this time. I slide a hand up her side, taking the hem of her shirt up with it. Her skin is smooth and warm, just like I remember it. I move back up to her mouth, nipping her bottom lip and then sucking it into my mouth, she moans, sending a shiver through my body. I sit up, taking her with me and pull her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor.

"You're over dressed." I tell her and she smiles and captures my lips, slipping her tongue into my mouth. I caress it with my own, my hands reaching behind her to remove her bra. I slip it over her arms and it joins her shirt on the floor. I pull out of the kiss to take in the sight of her. "God, I missed you so much." I breath and lay her back to worship her body. I kiss my way up her stomach to her breast, biting the underside of one gently. Her hips jerk and I moan, kissing every inch of both of her breasts before taking a nipple in my mouth. I suck on it, then swirl my tongue around it, loving the way she arches up off of the bed, pressing it into my mouth. My other hand is gently massaging the other, my thumb running over the nipple and then pinching it between my thumb and forefinger.

"Damon, you're teasing...please..." Her hands are gripping the sheets and her hips are rolling against mine, ruining my resolve. I snake one arm under her back and hold her to me, grinding my erection against her and she cries out. "Oh god!" I smirk, I've got her right where I want her.

"You really missed me, didn't you?" I ask, moving to the other nipple and sucking it into my mouth. I pull away and blow gently on it and she shivers.

"Yes!" I'm still dressed from the waist down and I'm suddenly wishing I wasn't. I sit up and hook my fingers under the hem of her shorts, sliding them down her smooth legs. I drop them to the floor and then remove my own pants and underwear before joining her on the bed again. I kiss her ankle, then her calf, then her knee, and then I place several kisses on the sensative skin on the inside of her thigh. I move back up her body and kiss her again, her hips are rising up, trying to move things faster, and I still hold back. I slip one finger past her lace panties and run it up her wet folds.

"Oh!" Her back leaves the bed again and I slip the finger inside. I run my finger up the front wall and she comes undone, her hands tangling in my hair as she cries out. Her juices coat my fingers and I pull them out, making eye contact with her as I lick them clean. Her eyes are blazing with lust even though she's coming down from her high. I slip her panties off before positioning myself above her.

"Tell me what you want." She looks a little shocked, because I've not talked dirty to her at all before. But I want to hear her say it.

"I want you inside me." I grin, because if she was surprised before then this is really gonna get her.

"You're gonna have to be more specific. What do you want me to put inside you?" Her eyes widen and she opens her mouth to talk, but nothing comes out. She closes it again and then tries again.

"I want your...dick inside me." My eyes roll back and my hips surge forward, but I stop before I enter her, because I don't want to go to fast. The look she gets in her eyes is really instense and she smiles. It isn't her usual smile though, it's verging on mischevious. I'm in trouble and I know it. She pulls my head down to her and kisses me as I slowly press into her. She's tighter than I remember, so I go slow. I'm just an inch inside her and she's kissing my neck and shoulder. "I wanna bite you." She whispers and I shudder.

"Do what ever you want, baby." I tell her as I slide a little further in. I feel her tongue sweep over the skin on my neck and my cock throbs inside her. I press further in and I think it's out of frustration, but she thrusts up to meet me, taking me all the way in. "Oh god!" Electricity shoots through my body like lightening and I bite my tongue to get control.

"You feel so good..." Elena breathed as I started moving in and out.

"Thought you were gonna bite me." I remind her, because I can just imagine how good that would feel. Especially on top of her hot, wet pussy wrapped around my cock.

"I'm-oh god! Biding my time." She says, tangling her hands in the sheets, trying to stay grounded a little longer. I'm moving slowly, in and out, feeling the way her walls contract around me. The feeling is so intense, like the first time, and I can't get enough. I can feel the muscles in my body tightening as the arousal builds and I'm getting close. I grab her sides and pull her with me as I sit up. As we move into a sitting position, I pull her down hard, simultaneously thrusting up into her. She cries out, her head falling back in ecstasy. I feel her juices coating my cock as she comes hard, her walls spasming around me. I hold back, not wanting it to be over yet. I'm slowly moving her up and down as she starts to relax. She rests her head on my shoulder, her skin glistening with sweat and she's taking deep breaths. When her breathing evens out a little, I press little kisses to her shoulder. She sits up and kisses me, slow and sensually. I grip her hips a little tighter, rolling her against me, sending an amazing sensation through my cock.

"Can you go again?" I ask breathlessly, still moving her against me. She grins and leans in close to my ear, taking it in my mouth, sucking it gently. I shudder as she whisper her answer to me.

"Always." I smirk and start moving her up and down, slowly when she goes up and bringing her down hard. She lets out a loud moan each time I bring her down and she's tightening around me again, coming closer to her climax each time. "I'm gonna..." She breaths and I groan.

"Give into it, I'm with you." She suddenly leans her forehead on my shoulder, gasping for air, before I feel her lips on my neck. I brace myself because I know whats coming and it's going to be the end for me. She bites down and I slam up into her, both of us screaming out our pleasure as I spill my seed deep inside her. I lay her back as carefully as I can in my exhaustion, she can barely keep her eyes open as her head hits the pillow. I roll off to the side, so I don't crush her, and then pull her to me, her head resting on my chest. I was so tired that I couldn't even form coherent words, not enough to say goodnight. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

"Rise and shine, handsome." I smiled even before I opened my eyes. She brushed a kiss over my lips, but when I reached for her, she wasn't there. I opened my eyes to find her standing on the other side of the bed, freshly showered. The smell of jasmine invaded my senses and I sat up, determined to touch her again. "I made you breakfast. Come on."

"Alright." I glance at the clock. "Why are we up at eight in the morning if we can sleep in?" I ask, getting up off of the bed, stark naked. I glance back at her because I have to see it. She blushes bright red and shifts from one foot to the other, like she doesn't know what to do. I pick up my pajama pants from the night before, since I need to shower before I get dressed. I pull them on and walk over to where she's standing, pulling her to me and kissing he softly. "Let's go eat breakfast."

She made bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast and it was delicious, despite the fact that she claims she can't cook. Afterwards, I showered and she washed the sheets from the bed. We went apartment hunting for a while, pretending to be newlyweds with every place we looked at. Elena giggled and smiled the whole time and I couldn't stop staring. Then we headed out to the ranch to ride Mint and return to our favorite spot. "I missed you." She whispered in his ear.

"I'm sure he missed you too." I remembered listening to Katherine talking to Mint. I hadn't heard from her still, I wondered how she was doing. I hoped Stefan was treating her right. "I'm gonna go get his saddle and bridle while you brush him." I told her, walking into the tack room.

"Okay." She replied and picked up the curry comb. I stopped just inside the tack room and pulled out my phone.

Are you doing okay?

I wasn't sure that Katherine would text me back, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. I put my phone back in my pocket and retrieved the saddle and bridle. Elena was still brushing Mint down so I leaned agaist his stall and just watched her. After a moment she looked up at me and blushed. "What?" She asked, her arms dropping to her sides.

"Do you know how beautiful you are?" I ask and she blushes even harder, if that's possible. "I wish you could see what I can see." I walk over to her and frame her face with my hands.

"There's something I need to tell you." She whispers, looking down. I tilt her chin up, with two fingers and look her in the eyes.

"I already know, tell me when it feels natural." I tell her and kiss her softly. I step back and she finishes brushing the horse.

We rode into the forest, her in front, me in back, as usual. We moved at a leisurely pace, taking our time and enjoying the forest and each other. Elena's hair tickled my neck and face as we rode and I let it, breathing in her sweet scent. She turned the horse off of the path and towards the sound of rushing water. I hadn't let myself return to it without her, it was only special when she was with me. She pulled the horse to a stop and we got down. I wan't exactly sure what we were gonna do here, but I was just happy to have her back. She took my hand and led my to a large rock that was nearby. We climbed up and sat down, my arms wrapped around her. "I'm going to get a veterinary degree." She told me.

"Finally found something worth going to school for, huh?" She smiled.

"If we ever get to own a ranch, I want to be able to be our own personal vet. It'll save us some money. Maybe we can open up a summer camp for kids like your mom." Had she been listening that day, when I whispered my plans in her ear or were we that much in sync? I couldn't have asked for a better woman, she was my better half. My phone went off in my pocket and pulled it out, looking at the screen.

"This is Damon." I answered.

"Damon, I'm glad I caught you. I'm kind of in a rough spot right now. One of my drivers came down sick and I have to drive eight horses to a show a hundred miles from here." I knew where this was going and my heart sunk. "Can you drive one of the trailers for me? It's a few days stay, so you'll need to pack a bag." He waited for my answer, Elena was looking at me expectantly. I took a deep breath, because this was going to have some serious fallout.

"Sure, I'll pack my bags, when do we leave?" Elena frowned and I had to look away.

"We leave tomorrow. I already called someone to cover for you at the ranch, so you don't need to worry about that. I'll pay you to cover, gas, food, and the work you'll miss. Meet me at the barn at four am tomorrow and we'll load up the horses."

"Okay, will do." He hung up and I put my phone back in my pocket.

"You're leaving?" She looked heart broken and I wanted to bring her with me, but I knew the answer already.

"I wouldn't go if there was a way around it. I'm his only option and he's going to pay me for it. It's only for a few days and then I'll be back. I promise." She got up from the rock and walked back over to the horse.

"I'm ready to go." She said, her whole body was tense and I didn't know how to fix this. I got down from the rock and walked over to her.

"I'm really sorry Elena, but it won't be for long. I feel like I just got you back, I really want to stay, more than you know. But I can't say no to my boss, this could be an opportunity to make more money. If I do this right, he might have me transport horses more often and give me a raise." She smiled weakly at me.

"I know, I just don't want you to leave. I just got you back too." She mounted the horse and I did the same. We rode back to the ranch in silence.


	12. Chapter 12

I was packing my bag while Elena sat quietly on the bed, watching my every move. Every piece of clothing I put in the bag was another stab to my heart. How was I supposed to pack up and leave when she was looking at me like that? I ran a hand through my hair and then gripped it with both hands. I couldn't do this, I needed her, I had to find some way to get out of this. Concern crossed through Elena's expression as I whirled around to face her. "I can't." Was all I said.

"You can and you will, it's important for your job. I'll be here when you get back and we'll talk on the phone every day." She tried to reassure me. But instead of finishing my task, I sunk down on the bed and stared at my suitcase. How did she have this much affect on my choices. Any other girl and I would have done this job in a heartbeat, no problem. She runs her hand up and down my back, scooting up next to me, blocking my view of the suitcase.

"You promise you'll be here when I get back?" I ask and I know I sound ridiculous, but after losing her once, I don't want to do it again. She smiles and kisses my cheek.

"I don't have a place to live, so I'll actually be here in your apartment when you get back." How can she be so strong? She makes me feel like a little boy when she looks at me like that. I smile back at her and tackle her to the bed, she squeals with laughter, caught off guard. I just lay there and stare at her, her big brown eyes twinkling brightly at me. And that's when I get my brilliant idea. I pull my phone out of my pocket and hold it in front of my face. She goes to cover her face and I stop her.

"You can do the same to me, so that when we can't talk to each other, we can still see each other." I tell her and she gives me a brilliant smile and I snap a shot of her, making it the background on my phone. "Okay, your turn." I tell her and she pulls out her phone and holds it up. I give her a cocky smirk and she giggles as she takes the picture. "Now, we'll always be together." I tell her as she puts her phone down.

"Hurry up and pack your suitcase so that we can relax together." She says kissing me and sitting up. I do the same and finish packing my bag, Elena wiggling her eyebrows as I pack my underwear. I just shake my head and laugh before zipping my bag up and setting it on the floor by the bedroom door. Elena suddenly gets up off of the bed and runs into the other room. I frown and follow her into the kitchen to find her setting up the coffee pot for tomorrow.

"I thought there was an emergency of some kind, but you're making coffee." I say arching an eyebrow at her.

"If the coffee is already made, we'll have just a little more time together in the morning. What else needs to be done?" She asks, squinting her eyes at me.

"I think that's it. I mean the dog will have to be taken out, but you can do that after I leave." I tell her and she relaxes little and walks over to me. She stands on her tip toes and kisses me before wrapping her arms around me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight for a moment and then I lift her off the floor. She wraps her legs around my waist out of habit and I carry her back into the bedroom. I kick the door closed behind me and then turn around and press her up against it. It's only a few days, I'm not leaving for any huge length of time, but we're acting like I'm going to be gone for months or something. I kiss her tenderly and she takes my lower lip in her mouth, sucking on it and biting it. I let out a breath and pulled out of the kiss, staring deep into her eyes. I don't know what she saw in my mine but she whimpers and goes for my neck, kissing and biting it. I don't know where this biting fetish came from, but it completely wrecks me. I'm instantly hard and feeling weak in the knees, which isn't good considering our current arrangement.

"Don't drop me." She whispers in my ear, it's like she read my mind. It was a warning though, because she sucked my earlobe into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it. It was the most intense feeling for something so odd. I let out a moan mixed with some groaning, I'm not really sure what kind of noise it was and I could feel her smiling. My hips bucked and she hummed, sending vibrations through my ear and straight down to my cock. My knees started to buckle and I knew we were going to hit the ground. I made sure to cushion her fall and she landed on my lap, her legs still wrapped around me. She didn't so much as flinch and bit down on my ear. I had to distract her, my cock was throbbing painfully inside my jeans and I couldn't take much more of this. I lost my control and rolled us over so we were laying on the floor and yanked her jeans and underwear off of her legs. I was fumbling with the button on my pants, so Elena sat up and helped me, undoing them in record time. I had to stand up to get them off, but was quickly back between her legs. We'd reached the point where we were frantic, in a hurry to be connected again. But just before I entered her, I stopped.

"Visit Mint for me while I'm gone." It was a weird thing to say right then, but I had a feeling that if I didn't say it then, I would forget by the time we reached the bed. She nodded and I thrust into her hard and she let out a scream. I paused, worried if I been a little too rough. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" I felt her spasm around me and knew that she was already orgasming. I smiled and slid back out slowly and then repeated the action. She screamed again, trying to grip the carpet as her back left the floor. I never knew she liked it so rough. I continued this way, setting off orgasm after orgasm, never taking my eyes off of her beautiful body. After I'd done this several times, she let out a whimpering sound and pulled me down to her. She kissed me so fiercely that I thought we might explode into flames. I quickened my movements, pounding into her hard, over and over and over again until she was so tight around me that I could hardly move. I slowly pulled back and thrust into her hard one last time before she had me in a vice grip that sent me reeling over the edge. All the muscles in my body were tight and my eyes rolled back as I came hard. I'm not sure if I blacked out or what, but I opened my eyes a few moments later to find myself staring at the ceiling and Elena drawing intricate patterns on my chest. That was one hell of a goodbye, I hoped that we always said goodbye like that.

"Fuck." Was the only word that managed to find it's way out of my mouth. Elena giggled and ran her hand further down my chest and stomach, stopping just bellow my belly button. I shook my head, exhausted from our first go around, I wasn't sure how she could have the energy for more after that. She removed her hand and replaced it with her lips, her tongue dipping out and tracing the lines of my muscles. Oddly enough, it was relaxing and I could feel my eyelids getting heavy. "Unless you want to sleep on the floor tonight, we need to move to the bed." I said lazily.

"OKay." She said, but then continued her way up to my chest. How on earth was she still going? I finally sat up and she stopped her lust filled eyes meeting mine. I stood up and held my hand out to help her up. She took it and followed me to the bed. We crawled under the covers and she curled up into my side. I could feel sleep creeping up and the last thing I remember is her hand gripping mine tightly, like I might disappear if she let go.

When the sound of my blaring alarm invaded my sleeping mind, I groaned and rolled over, hitting the snooze button. I rolled back over and felt for Elena, my eyes still closed. She was curled up next to me, still fast asleep. I could tell by the lack of movement. I moved closer to her and she sighed contentedly, rolling over to face me, eyes still closed. I pulled her closer to my chest and wrapped an arm and a leg around her. Her warmth seeped into my chest. I must have kicked the covers down at some point, because my chest is on the verge of being cold. I breathed in her scent, wishing there was some way to take it with me. But no matter what type of jasmine scented perfume I got a hold of, it wouldn't be the same. You couldn't bottle Elena's smell, it was unique to her and I couldn't get enough of it. My alarm goes off again and I roll over to turn it off, knowing that I have to get up. When I roll back over, Elena's eyes are open and she's just staring at me. I don't know if I should say something or not. She looks like she will break if I say anything, so I just stare back at her. Suddenly, she buries her face in my chest, tangling her legs with mine and holding on for dear life. I wrap my arms around her, because I don't want to let go either.

"Will you have a cup of coffee with me?" I whisper in her ear and she shakes in my arms. "Hey...I'm coming back, it's okay." I remind her, feeling teardrops run down my chest.

"I know, I just...I..." She keeps hesitating and I wonder what she's thinking. She finally pulls back to look me in the eyes again. "I love you, Damon." I swear my heart comes to a complete stop and then restarts again. I blink once and smile so big that it goes from ear to ear.

"Shit, Elena! I love you too!" I say kissing her forehead and holding her closer. I formulated a plan in my head and smiled at the idea. I couldn't wait to get on the road and get back to her. I kissed the top of her head again. "Come on, let's go have some coffee and wake up a little bit." I whisper again and she nods this time.

"I'm going to throw on my hoodie, it got cold in here last night." She comments and I nod in agreement as we climb out of bed. I rub my hand over my messy hair and Elena giggles.

"What?" I ask and then pull a shirt over my head.

"Your hair, it always looks good, whether you've combed it or not, it looks amazing. I just want to touch it all the time." She says happily and then pulls on her hoodie. We walk into the kitchen and Midnight lazily lifts his head to look at us and then goes back to sleep. I head straight for the coffee maker and press the on button and it comes to life. I open the fridge and pull out the creamer, setting it on the counter next to the coffee maker.

"You can touch my hair anytime you want, no complaints here." I say smirking at her, she blushes and goes to the cabinet to get out the coffee mugs. "I should get into the hotel around nine, I'll call you as soon as I get settled." I tell her and she freezes. Six months was too damn long, I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever be normal.

"Okay, where do you keep Mint's treats? They always just seem to magically appear in your hand, even at camp." She says, pouring our coffee.

"I keep them in a bag in under the sink, here in the apartment." I tell her and she gives a you've-got-to-be-joking look.

"How have I never noticed them before and I've never seen you grab one on your way out the door." She opens the cabinet under the sink and is shocked to see that they are actually there. "What about at camp, where did you keep them then?" She asks closing the cabinet and turning to face me.

"I kept them in my room, or in my pants pocket." I explain as I add creamer and a little sugar to my coffee. Elena does the same only she adds a whole lot more sugar than I do. I make a face at it and she sticks her tongue out at me. We sit quietly at the island, drinking our coffee, getting lost in our thoughts. I glance at the clock, its a little after three and my chest tightens. I wanna tell her to forget about school and just come with me, but I know that that would be wrong. So instead I take her free hand in mine and squeeze it tightly. She squeezes back and looks at me for a minute before taking another drink of her coffee. I feel like we're waiting for someone to die or a tornado to hit. I finish my coffee and kiss her on the top of the head as I walk by on my way to the bedroom. I still need to shower and get dressed. She just looks after me longingly. It breaks my heart to leave her so soon, we only had two nights together, if even that, seeing how usually I'd still be asleep even on a work morning.

She doesn't follow me and I'm not surprised, we aren't good at goodbyes. I strip out of my clothes and walk into the bathroom, turning on the shower and waiting for the water to warm. I can hear Elena doing something in the kitchen and I'm kind of curious about it, because she's usually not that noisy. I frown but adjust the water and enter the shower anyway. The hot water makes goosebumps form all over my arms after been in the cool apartment. I stand under the hot water for a moment, letting my body adjust and then pick up the shampoo, pouring some on my hand and rubbing my hands together. I rub the shampoo into my hair, creating a thick lather. Then I rinse it out and start on the conditioner, over all my shower takes about ten minutes. I turn the water off and step out, grabbing a towel and wiping my face dry before wrapping it around my waist. I turn towards the sink to comb my hair and I'm surprised to find my clothes on the counter waiting for me. I frown and open the bathroom door and peek into the bedroom. Elena is sprawled across the bed, her eyes closed. "Are you falling asleep already?" I ask, leaving the door open as I return to the counter for my clothes.

"No, I'm just resting my eyes." I drop my towel just as she sits up to look at me. It wasn't intentional, but she squeaks, and in the mirror I can see her blushing bright red. "Damon, don't do that to me. You know that it has that affect on me!" She says, throwing one of my pillows at me. I dodge it easily and throw it back at her, it hits her square in the face and she flops back on the bed. I take that moment to pull on my underwear and then grab my clothes and walk back into the bedroom. She sits up and squeaks again when she sees that I'm right in front of her and crawling across the bed to where she is. I grab her by the ankles and pull her to me, she grips the sheets taking them with her. When I finally get her close enough, I lean down over her and kiss her softly. She whimpers into our kiss and her hands fist into my shirt. I want to stay so bad and I know I should be getting dressed, but it's next to impossible with this gorgeous woman lying in my bed.

"I need to get dressed." I tell her as I shove her hoodie up her stomach and dip my tongue in her navel, sending shivers up her body. I move back up to her lips and press my hard on into her. Her back leaves the bed and I know that I made a mistake getting onto the bed with her. I glance at the clock and there's not time to doing anything now. I groan in frustration and jerk her hard against my hips and she cries out. I sit up and pull her onto my lap and look her in the eyes, trying to decide if I can pull this off or not. Her eyes are wild with lust and she's still trying to catch her breath. I had to leave in ten minutes, so I needed to make it quick. I wasn't much for quickies, but I was going to be gone for a few days and I was going to miss her like crazy. I slid her off of my lap, rose to my knees and pulled my boxers down as far as they would go, she caught on quick and slipped her panties off too. She was back on my lap in a split second, poised above my dick.

"How much time do you have?" She asks me as she slowly moves down.

"Ten...minutes..." I breath out, my eyes rolling back as she takes me in.

I'm pulling on my pants a few minutes later, while Elena sits on the bed, watching my every move. I can tell by the look in her eyes that she really doesn't want me to go and I don't want to leave her. I hope that the next few days go by fast so I can come home to her. I'm dressed in a matter of seconds and Elena walks to the door with me. Midnight is still sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of the fact that I'm leaving. "Call me when you get there." She says, her eyes full of longing.

"I'll call you every time I stop." I tell her as I embrace her in a hug, kissing the top of her head. "And we'll talk every night before bed." I say reassuringly, my hand rubbing up and down her back.

"Be safe." She tells me and I nod, opening the door behind me. I step out and she waves at me, I wave back and keep telling myself that I'll be back soon. I turn and start down the hallway, hearing the door click shut behind me.

"You'll be taking the smaller trailer, with three of the horses. The other five will be going in the big trailer with me. I have a map for you with our rest stops marked, you'll need to water the horses each time. When you stop, you'll have ten minutes to do what you need to do before you need to be back on the road again. Any questions?" He hands me my map and I look over it quickly.

"Nope, I got it." I say smiling confidently, even though I've never driven a horse trailer across country before.

"Alright, let's get the trailers hitched." He walks over to his truck and I help him align it with the trailer. He doesn't say anything, but I can tell by the look on his face that he's surprised at how easy we get it done. We do the same with my truck and then load the saddles, bridles, and tack boxes. Then he shows me which horses I'll be taking in my trailer and by this time, the owners of the horses have shown up. They help us load the horses and then it's time to hit the road. I shoot Elena a quick text before we leave.

Heading out.

My phone buzzes a little while later. I glance at it, just to see what she said, not wanting to text while driving.

Be careful, Love you. :)

I smile as we pull onto the highway and take off. I'm following Mr. Rowan for a long time as we head out of town, my music is up, the bass soothing my nerves. My mind is back home with Elena, missing her touch and the sound of her voice. I get the sudden idea to ask her to move in with me, once we get to the horse show, I will have a few days where I'm not needed. I formulate a plan in my head and when we reach the first stop, I look up the closest hardware store in the town we're headed to. I save the page and get busy watering the horses. I get myself a drink and some chips to snack on and head back out to my truck, keeping an eye on the time. I'm back on the road just on time, singing along to the song playing. I don't have the greatest voice in the world, but I can carry a tune. There are a few more stops along the way and we reach our destination by lunch time. I help unload the horses and unhitch the horse trailers before I head to my hotel room. Mr. Rowan spared no exspense, the room is very nice. It has a king size bed, microwave, mini fridge, a flat screen tv, and a decently sized bathroom. I set my bag down on the bed and pull out my phone. It rings a few times before she answers. "Hello handsome!" She says happily.

"Hello gorgeous." I reply, flopping down on the bed. "How are you?" I ask, staring at the ceiling and picturing her face.

"I'm good, you forgot to text me when you made your stops." She reminds me and slap my forehead.

"I completely forgot, he only gave me ten minutes at each stop and I had to water the horses every time. I'm sorry baby." I apologize sincerely.

"It's okay. So, what are you going to do up there for the next three days?" She asks curiously.

"Miss you." Is my simple reply and she aww's over the phone.

"I hate that we only got two nights together before you left. Promise me that when you get back, we'll at least have a month." She pleads.

"I promise. How's Midnight?" I ask because I've never left him alone over night before.

"He keeps staring at the door. I think he's waiting for you to come home. I've already taken him out several times, thinking that was what he wanted, but he doesn't do anything. So I moved his bed closer to the door, so he can at least wait comfortably. I'm going to take him out to the ranch here in a bit and let him run around." She's says and there's shuffling noise on her end.

"He'll like that. I guess I should find a place to eat lunch, but it's going to feel weird eating alone." I sit up on the bed and pick up one of the brochures off of the nightstand. There are way more choices than I'm used to here.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to fix that. You can pretend I'm there with you and have imaginary conversations." She suggests and I laugh.

"And make myself look like I'm insane? No thank you. But I'll definitely be thinking about you." I set the brochure down and get up, crossing the room to stick my keys in my pocket.

"Okay, well, have a good lunch, hope it's delicious." She sounds sad and I almost don't want to get off the phone.

"Okay, sext me later?" I tease and she laughs.

"And risk your boss seeing?" She teases back and then gets quiet. "I'll call you later, love you."

"I love you too, Elena. Bye." She says bye and ends the call. I stare at my phone for a moment before coming back to my senses. I make sure my wallet in my pocket, grab my hotel key and then head out the door. It's still hot in this town, so my truck is in some desperate need of some air conditioning by the time I get back in it. I crank it up all the way and pull out onto the highway, heading towards the nearest bar. Some greasy bar food and a glass of bourbon sound amazing right now. But then I remember my plan and head to the hardware store first.

I walk in and the place is dead for the time being. I walk up to the counter were a a teenage girl is running the cash register. I assume that her family owns it since this isn't something that she seems all that interested in doing. She looks up and a blush creeps into her cheeks, I'm tempted to roll my eyes, but don't. "Can I help you sir?" She asks politely, but her voice is a little high and squeaky.

"I need to have a key made." I tell her as I approach the counter, immediately removing my apartment key and setting it on the counter.

"Okay, no problem." She says, plastering a nervous smile on her face. She picks up my key and takes it over to a complicated looking machine. "It'll just take a moment." She tells me.

"Alright, I'm gonna look around. Do you have any keychains?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah, aisle five." She says pointing at the sign that reads aisle five.

"Thanks." I wander down the aisle until I locate the keychains. I try to think of what Elena would like. They have superman symbols, number one dad, tweety bird, and tons with little sayings on them. I start reading through the sayings, one after another. I finally find a set that says 'I'll hold you in my heart' on one and 'Til I can hold you in my arms' on the other. It's so perfect that I can't resist, I pick it up just as the store clerk walks up to me.

"Your key is ready sir." She tells me and I nod, following her back to the counter. She sets the newly made key on the counter after scanning the barcode. Then she picks up the keychain and glances at it before scanning it. "Aww, is this for your girlfriend?" She asks curiously, her tone is soft, but her face says otherwise.

"Yeah, I'm hoping she'll move in with me." I tell, a soft smile on my face. She tries to hide the annoyance on her face and smiles at me.

"That's cute." She tells me my total and I pay. Leaving the store with an amused smirk on my face. Where I'm from, everyone knows me, I don't get that reaction from any of the women in my town anymore. I walked back to my truck and and put one of the keychains on the new key, sticking it in my glove box. I put the other keychain on my own keys, not caring that it was pink. I headed to the bar from there, using my phone as gps. I walk in and the place is pretty much deserted too. It must be a sunday afternoon thing here. I sit at the bar and the bartender walks over to me. He's an older gentleman, gray hair and green eyes.

"What can I get for you?" He asks.

"Your best bourbon." I reply and he walks away to get my drink, setting it in front of me a moment later. I pick it up and stare at the amber liquid for a moment. The universe is definitely against me and Elena being together. It's becoming my life mission to stay in one place with her. But if I can land this job full time, I'll get a pay raise and that would be great since I'm in the market for a house.

"It works better if you drink it." I recognize that voice. "What are you doing here?" She asks and I look up, I can't help the grin that spreads across my face.

"Katherine! I should be asking what you're doing here." I say getting up to give her a hug.

"I'm in town for a concert." She informs me as we pull away.

"Oh really, what night and what band?" I ask curiously, since I have nothing to do while I'm here. A look of uncertainty crosses her face and she looks away from me, her smile fading.

"I don't know if we should be hanging out, my sister still doesn't know. Not unless you told her." She says.

"I'll tell her as soon as I get back, please don't make me spend my entire time here drinking by myself." I plead. Elena would understand, she trusts me and Katherine and I are just friends.

"Are you sure?" She still seems hesitant.

"Yeah, I'm sure, she'll understand." She nods once and takes a deep breath.

"It's tonight and it's Ed Sheeran." She finally tells me. "You might still be able to get a ticket." I take my phone out of my pocket and get online to purchase a ticket. "Where are you sitting?" I ask.

"I'm not, I'm up close to the stage." I nod and purchase a last minute ticket, it was a lot more pricey than I was expecting, but at least I won't have to try to con my way closer to the stage. "Alright, I promise it will be okay." I reassure her and she smiles.

"You don't mind if my friends are going to be there too, do you?" I shake my head and we both sit down at the bar. She orders a dirty martini while I continue working on my bourbon.

"No I don't mind." I take a drink and the bartender hands her hers. She turns towards me as she takes her first sip. I realize that the bartender didn't even card her and I wonder if he knows that he just served a minor.

"So, how are things with you and Elena?" She asks and then pops her olive in her mouth and it's something I've seen Elena do with popcorn, it makes me do a double take.

"Hot and steamy, too bad we keep getting interupted." She rolls her eyes at me.

"I don't want to know about the hot and steamy part of your relationship with my sister." She says, taking a drink. I smirk at her and set my glass down on the bar, watching the condensation roll down the side of it.

"What about you and Stefan, how's that going?" I ask looking up at her again.

"Well, we've been dating for a while now and I really like him." The look in her eyes makes me smile.

"You're head over heels for him aren't you?" I push, taking another drink of bourbon.

"Maybe, plus he's an amazing kisser." She gushes and I roll my eyes.

"Didn't need to know that." I tell her and she sticks her tongue out at me. I laugh and the bartender approaches us again.

"Would you like another?" He asks and I look down, not even having realized that I finished my drink. "Sure and some cheese smothered fries...make that two plates of cheese smothered fries." I say and wink at Katherine. The bartender nods, refills my drink and then heads through a door to the back.

"You didn't have to do that." Katherine tells me and I smile at my drink.

"You would have just stolen mine if I didn't. Don't worry, it's on me." I tell her.

"That just makes it worse." She tells me and finishes her drink.

"No, that makes me a gentleman." She giggles. Katherine is actually a really nice person once you get to know her. "Can I tell you a secret?" I ask her.

"Sure." She responds, flipping her wavy hair over her shoulder. For a moment I have a vision of Elena, her shy smile, as she tucks her hair behind her ear. What I wouldn't give to see her right now.

"You can't tell anyone, it's a surprise for Elena. For when I get back, I'm hoping she'll like it." I tell her and she nods. "I'm going to ask her to move in with me." I take a drink of my bourbon.

"No way!" She squeals, bouncing excitedly in her seat. "She's gonna flip, oh my god, she's gonna cry." The bar is starting to fill up a little and we have the attention of the whole place. Katherine must have realized, because she clears her throat and sits down. "How are you going to ask her and where?" She whispers excitedly.

"You make it sound like I'm proposing." I reply and she grins at me.

"It's the step before, Damon. And you need to make it really romantic, take her out to dinner, dress up. She's gonna love it." She tells me. Her martini is empty and the bartender is refilling it and setting our plates down. I mull over what she said, while we eat in silence. I decide that I'm going to take her to our secret spot, set up a candlelight picnic and I'll ask her then. Once we're done eating, I pay the tab and we stand up, Katherine grabbing her purse. "Where are you staying?" She asks as we walk out of the bar.

"I'm at the Marriot." I unlock my truck and Katherine smiles.

"I've missed that truck." She says longingly. "I'll come by your hotel and we can ride over there together." She adds.

"Sounds good." She smiles and walks toward her car. She's gone before I even back out and I wonder for a moment if I'm going crazy. I pull out onto the highway and drive back to my hotel room. I hope that I've packed something appropriate for a concert as I walk into my hotel room. I decide that I should call Elena before I start getting ready. I pull out my phone as I start going through the clothes in my bag. "Hello?" She sounds distracted.

"Hey babe, are you okay?" I frown and set the clothes down that I'm holding.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just looking through the classifieds for apartments." She tells me and I want so badly to tell her what my plan is.

"Don't rush into anything, okay? I want to have some time with you before you move out." I say instead, hoping it will stall her for a bit.

"Believe me, I couldn't rush into this if I wanted to. There's not a lot out there right now." She says and I hear the ruffling of a newspaper. "How was lunch?" It's a loaded question. I want to tell her the truth, but over the phone isn't the right time.

"Uneventful, I had some fries and bourbon. Probably not the healthiest thing, but it sounded good." I try to sound nonchalant. She doesn't catch on, I hear Midnight bark in the background. "How was your ride?"

"Good, Mint enjoyed himself. Can I call you back later? I'm gonna take the dog out, he keeps barking at the door."

"Yeah, I love you." I tell her.

"Love you too, babe." She hits end and I start getting ready for the concert

AN: I know what you're thinking, More Katherine?! Don't worry, I won't make you wait too long for more Delena. I am loving the reviews, you guys are awesome! Thanks for sticking around!


	13. Chapter 13

It's All Stefan's Fault

A black button down shirt, black jeans, my hair messy, and a spray of cologne. I glance into the mirror one last time before sticking my keys, wallet, and phone in my pockets. Elena had called me back while I was getting dressed to tell me that she was headed to bed. It was a short conversation, but I cherish every second I get to hear her voice. I hear a knock at the door and walk over to open it. Katherine is standing there in purple cocktail dress, that seductive smirk on her face. I roll my eyes and make sure I have my room key before following her out into the hallway. I glance at my phone before climbing into my truck, Katherine gets in on the other side. "Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!" Katherine says as I start the truck.

"Is Ed one of your favorites?" I ask casually as I follow the gps on her phone.

"He is my top favorite artist, Elena likes him too. I tried to get her to come tonight, but she said she had other things to do." Elena could have been here tonight.

"Did you tell her where it was at?" I ask frowning. If she'd known it was going to be in the same town I was headed to she would have said yes for sure.

"No, I didn't get that far. She said that she couldn't be up all hours of the night in another town with classes tomorrow." That explained it then.

"I see." The conversation stopped after that and we rode in silence to the stadium.

The place was crowded when we showed up, but not as crowded as we expected it to be. I followed Katherine through the crowd to the place we would be during the concert. To my surprise, Stefan was one of the friends that she had invited. He caught sight of me and his gaze hardened. It appeared that we had a jealous boyfriend, lucky for him, I wasn't interested in Katherine that way. There were a couple girls, around the same age as Katherine, Stefan and I were the only guys. I take a deep breath, because this might not be worth the price I paid. I hate jealous teenager crap. "Hey Damon, will you do us all a favor?" Katherine asks suddenly as people start to fill in all around us.

"Depends on what it is?" I say flaring my eyes at her. She just rolls her eyes back at me.

"Will you go get us some drinks? We're all too young, I promise that Stefan will stay sober, so that way there's someone to drive us all home." I look at Stefan, poor guy, he nods at me.

"Alright, but just because we're at a concert. Don't think I will do this outside of the stadium. I'm not providing for illegal drinking at teenage parties." I tell her and she stuffs some cash in my hand. I nod and walk back out to the concession stand. They guy gives me a funny look when I order four beers and a bourbon, which happened to be the crappy kind. I just plastered a smile on my face and tried to look less suspicious. He gives me my drinks in a caddy and I walk back in to where Katherine and her friends are waiting for the concert to start. She sees me and her eyes light up.

"Thank you so much!" She says excitedly and I pass out the beers. The lights dim and the crowd starts cheering before anything even happens. Then the band walks out on the stage and they go even more nuts. I'm surprised, when the first song starts, how much I like it. Katherine and all of her friends are all singing along, Stefan has his arms around Katherine's waist. I finish off my first bourbon and go back for a second, and eventually a third, a fourth, and then I lost count...

Buzzzzz...Buzzzzz...Buzzzzz...What the fuck? I roll over and open my eyes. My phone is lit up on my nightstand, it's twelve-thirty, according to the clock. My head is pounding and my stomach is turning. I recognize this feeling all too well. I got drunk the night before. I sit up slowly and pick up my phone. "Hello?" I answer without looking at the caller ID.

"Damon? Are you okay? I haven't heard from you all morning." It's Elena and she sounds really worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I uh, stayed up all night watching paperview." Another lie. "So I must have overslept." I say testing my balance as I stand up, heading towards the bathroom.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure. I'm headed to my next class right now, so I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay, love you." I mumbled, softly closing the bathroom door behind me.

"Love you too." She says and hits end. I stare at my phone for a moment before starting the shower and using the bathroom. I find the coffee pot by the sink and even though it's probably not the best coffee in the world, I start a pot of it. I strip out of my clothes that still smell of bourbon and climb into the shower. The hot water helps clear my head and even calms my stomach a little. I scrub from head to toe, trying to wash away all the lies and sneaking around that I've been doing. How did I end up in this position? I wasn't a liar, never had been, but lately I've been making some questionable desicions. I decide right then and there that when I get back home, I'm going to tell Elena everything. I had no interest in dating Katherine, we were just friends, so she would understand right?

I get out of the shower, dry off, and get dressed before making a cup of coffee. The thing that I'm worried about, is Elena finding out how much of a drunk I turned into when she wasn't around. That night that Katherine found me in the parking lot outside my apartment was my rock bottom, I really don't want Elena to know about that. But how else do I explain Katherine and I becoming friends if I leave that out. That night is what brought us together, what made me see what a good person she could be. In fact, I was pretty sure that the attitude that she had was just a show for her friends, to keep her popular. The coffee had me clear headed enought that I could drive somewhere to get breakfast. I grabbed all my nessecities and walked out the door. I spent the morning locating a flower shop and a place with really good chocolate. I stopped to eat breakfast, did some shopping for Midnight, ended up buying him a gigantic bone and a new chew toy. I ate lunch, went to a movie, alone. Ignored a call or two from Katherine, bought Elena a new hoodie with a horse on it, ate dinner. I ended up back at the hotel room around eight, exhausted and lonely. I turned on the tv and looked at my phone. Elena hadn't so much as texted since her phone call this morning.

I fell asleep around nine, wondering what was keeping her so busy. I slept solidly through the night, still exhausted after a night of partying with Katherine. Then I woke up at three, showered, had some coffee, packed my bag, and headed back to the stables. My boss was there waiting and we loaded up and hit the road again. Elena finally called me again around six, excited to no end that I was on my way home. She squealed into the phone, ruining my hearing , when I told her I had a surprise for her. She tried really hard to get me to tell her what it was but ended up letting it go after while. The rest of the drive was quiet, only the sound of music and crunching chips. When we pulled up at the ranch, I couldn't get the horses unloaded fast enough. My boss kept giving me a questioning look and I ignored it, getting my work done as fast as possible. I was back on the road to home in no time, jamming out to music and dancing in my seat.

I grab my bag, the flowers, the candy, the hoodie, and the bone for Midnight. I leave the key in my glove box for later. I walk up the stairs to my apartment and carefully open the door, letting it close behind me. I don't see Elena, but as soon as the door clicks, she's running at me, full speed. I drop everything to the floor to catch her. Her arms wrap around my neck and I lift her off of the ground in a hug. She hasn't said a word yet, but she doesn't have to, I know everything she's telling me through our hug. I kiss her softly for a moment and then set her back down. "I missed you." I tell her and she smiles so big, I'm sure that it hurts.

"I missed you too." She says quietly. I pick up the flowers, chocolate, and hoodie, handing them to her.

"I saw these and I had to get them for you." I tell her, not the most romantic thing to say, but it's all I've got.

"Oh my gosh, you got me chocolate?" She tearing up and I want to kiss her again, hold her. I pray to God that I don't have to leave again anytime soon.

"I know how much girls like chocolate and it seemed kind of cliche but I did it anyway. And the hoodie has a horse on it, which I know how much you like horses and it'll be getting cold soon, so...yeah." I suck at this gift giving thing. She sets her gifts down on the table by the door and envelopes me in a hug again. I breath in her scent, filling my lungs with as much of it as I can. God, I missed her so much. I hear her take a deep breath and I know that she's doing the same to me.

"Thank you." She whispers and I kiss the top of her head. She walks with me into the bedroom to set my bag down, never going more than a few feet away from me. I turn around to face her and I have to touch her. Anytime away from Elena is too much. I pull her to me and kiss her hard, my hands gripping her hips, pressing my body up against hers. She's swept away immediately, already trying to unbutton my shirt. I stop her and she gives me a hurt look.

"Let me unpack and take a breather and I promise you, we will spend a lot of time together, without clothes." I whisper and she nods. For the first time since I got home, she leaves my side going into the kitchen. I hear her sit down at the island and I just stand there, trying to pull myself together enough to function.

"Hey, Damon?" Elena calls from the kitchen, I'm unpacking my bag and I stop.

"What?" I call out to her and then head into the kitchen. She's sitting at the island with her laptop out, looking at the screen.

"Why is this picture on Katherine's facebook?" She asks and I move around to where I can see and my heart stops. How the fuck did that happen and why was it on facebook?

"I can explain that." But not really, because I was so drunk that night, that I don't actually remember what happened.

"Where was this?" Elena gives me a look of total confusion and hurt.

"It was while I was gone, Katherine asked me to go to a concert with her." I sound so sheepish to my own ears. I let this omission of truth go on way too long.

"Since when do you hang out with Katherine?" She's facing me now, instead of looking at the picture.

"It started while you were gone and we've kind of become friends." I can't even begin to read the expression on her face. I really messed up this time.

"What?"

"I meant to tell you, but we just got so busy, it kind of slipped my mind." I know I'm walking right into a big fight, but the words come out anyway.

"Katherine happened to be in the same town with you? While you were gone...for work?" I can see the tears lingering in her eyes and I want to take it all back, every moment with Katherine that I didn't tell her about.

"I didn't know she was there, she found me at the bar." Elena stands up and I know that I'm in for it, I've never seen her so mad.

"She found you at the bar?!" She's yelling now and I can't explain where it comes from, but I'm starting to feel the anger bubbling just under the surface.

"It was a coincidence, I was just having lunch and a drink, like I told you. And there she was!" I slipped up again and I knew it.

"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to tell me on the phone afterwards that my sister was there? Or that you were going to go to a concert with her?!" She's just inches away from my face now and it takes everything in me to not back down. Her hands are clenched into fists and I almost wish she would hit me, because I deserve it.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to tell you in person so you wouldn't freak out..." Oh god, she's gonna start hitting me, I can see it, those were the wrong words.

"So I wouldn't freak-" The door flies open and I feel like I'm seeing double as Katherine bursts into the room, interrupting Elena.

"It's all Stefan's fault!" She yells.

"So it's all Stefan's fault that you two happened to be in the same town, at the same bar, having a drink, going to the concert, getting drunk, and Damon ending up on stage half naked with Ed Sheeran?" I fight the urge to laugh and I can see the start of a smile on Katherine's face.

"Yes." Katherine says. "Stefan forced the beer down his throat and shoved him on stage." I start making my way towards the bedroom, because I don't want to be part of this fight.

"I'm not done with you yet." Elena points right at me without even glancing in my direction. "Why the hell was my boyfriend drunk at a concert with you?!"

"Because he had nothing else to do." Katherine says simply and it only makes Elena angrier, inching closer to her sister.

"That doesn't mean you have to give him something to do!" She says incredulously. I'm frozen, how do I diffuse this bomb, because in the end, she's going to blow up at me.

"You know, while you were gone for six months and your boyfriend was drinking himself into the ground, I was the one that was there." She didn't just say that?! I start waving my arms at her and mouthing for her to stop.

"What?" Elena's tone has completely changed, the anger is gone, and that's not a good thing.

"He was lost, Elena. Someone had to save him. I found Midnight running around by the highway and Damon was passed out in the parking lot." I'm screwed, it's all over. Elena turns towards me, the tears are spilling over now and it breaks my heart. Why the fuck didn't I just tell her about all of this?

"Is that true, Damon?" I see Katherine backing towards the door and I feel betrayed, but I let her leave. I make my eyes meet Elena's soft brown ones, there are things there that I'm not sure that I want to understand.

"I didn't want you to know what I'm like when I hit rock bottom. I was nothing during the time you were gone, especially those first few weeks. I was a mess, I wasn't even worth your time or your sisters. If she hadn't intervened I would have ended up in the hospital due to alcohol poisoning. I'm really sorry, I knew that I needed to tell you that I was hanging out with your sister, but I didn't know how to tell you. And then next thing I knew it'd been almost seven months and I still hadn't told you." I'm rambling and I know and the look in her eyes is rage that is only softened by sadness.

"Did you sleep with her?" That question kills me, that she doesn't trust me enough now to know that I wouldn't ever do that to her. But I can't blame her, all the lying I've done. There is no trust anymore and I know that I'm going to have to work damn hard to earn it back. If she even wants to be with me anymore.

"No, I would never do that. I need you to understand that it was only friendship, never anything else. I don't have feelings for her and never have. I get that I betrayed your trust by lying to you about Katherine. I will do whatever I can to earn it back. If that means staying away from Katherine...then I will. I never meant to hurt you." She blinks back her tears and I reach for her tentatively.

"I'm not sure how I feel about all of this...all you had to do is tell me." She looks at my outreached hand and sniffles. I take a step closer to her and she doesn't move, I take that as a good sign. I move until I'm just inches away from her and then tip her chin up with two fingers.

"I don't want to lose you." I tell her. "Especially right now." She frowns.

"Why especially right now?" I smirk at her.

"Because I have a surprise for you in my truck." I tell her. I was going to wait, but I think the sooner the better at this point. "I just need you to make something for an early dinner or maybe a snack." I tell her, running my fingers through her hair.

"You piss me off and then ask me to cook? Jerk." She says smacking me.

"It's not like that, I swear." I tell her and lean in and kiss her cheek.

"Alright, on one condition." She pauses. "I want you to tell me everything that happened with Katherine while you guys were hanging out and being best friends behind my back." I want to argue, to tell her no way in hell, but if I want to keep her, there's no other way. So I nod before leading her into the kitchen and kissing her one more time before walking into the spare bedroom for an blanket and candles. I pack them in a backpack and search through the drawers of the extra dresser for a lighter. Luckily I find one and stick it in the backpack as well. I walk back into the kitchen and set the backpack on the island, where Elena is packing cheese, grapes, apples, and wine. "Is this a good snack for what you have in mind?" She asks as she packs them into a small cooler.

"They're perfect." I say distractedly, but mean it. I walk through my bedroom into the bathroom and close the door, because I feel like I'm going to drop to my knees. I'm sure that she'll say yes, or at least I was until she found out about Katherine. Now it's more of a maybe thing, which is making my heart pound at a million miles an hour. I put my hands on the edge of the bathroom counter and stare at myself in the mirror. I hear the door open behind me and Elena is in the mirror behind me.

"Are you okay?" She asks, walking over to me and placing a hand on my back.

"Yeah, uh...I'm fine." I say, turning to face her. "Are you ready to go?" I ask.

"Yep, we're all packed." She says. I can see the excitement in her eyes, but she looks a little confused too. I nod and take her hand as we walk back into the kitchen. I grab the backpack and she grabs the cooler. Midnight jumps up excitedly, wagging his tail and following us to the door. I decide that I can put him in a stall while we go on our trail ride, so I let him follow us out to the car and load him into the back of the truck with the cooler.

I start the truck and Elena looks at me for a moment and then looks down, I'm not sure if she's looking at my shoes or something else. "Okay, tell me the whole story, from the beginning." She says, waiting expectantly.

"Now?" I ask. Telling her all the details could completely derail my plan. She nods, smiling at me, but its not her usual smile. "Okay." I take a deep breath and she huffs out a laugh.

"It's its just a friendship, like you say, then there's nothing to be worried about." She reminds me and I smile because she's right.

"Okay, so I'll start with three weeks after you left. I was a wreck, drinking all the time, the apartment was a mess." I start as we drive towards the ranch. "I was sitting on the couch, drinking bourbon and Midnight kept barking at me. I decided that I should take him outside. Just because I was depressed didn't mean he needed to suffer." I give her a sad smile.

"So, you didn't even run into Katherine until three weeks after I left?"

"Don't interrupt. I got up, even though my head was spinning, and took him down to the parking lot. When I got down there, he was taking his time and I was feeling a little dizzy. I guess I must have passed out, because the next thing I know I'm waking up to your sisters face. The next part is a little fuzzy, I just remember ending up in bed and passing out again." She looks worried, but I continue. "I woke up the next morning and the apartment was clean, she made me breakfast and stuff. We spent the next few months just hanging out and watching movies. I took her to the ranch a few times, but she never rode Mint. She would sit on the edge of the arena and watch me ride. She almost liked Mint until he snorted in her face." I laugh a little at that, but Elena doesn't look as amused.

"So that's all that happened while I was gone?"

"No, Katherine started dating Stefan from camp." She looks really surprised at this.

"She didn't tell me." She's shocked.

"I'm sure she will, once things calm down between you two. He was actually at the concert with us sunday night. I think he posted that picture of me to get back at me for hanging out with his girlfriend. What he doesn't know is that I have never had any intention of stealing his girl."

"So that was Stefan that tagged Katherine. Do you remember how you ended up on stage with your shirt off?" I laugh because in hind sight, it's a little funny that I took my shirt off in front of hundreds of people and swung it over my head. I kind of wish I could remember that.

"No, I don't remember. I just remember waking up the next morning in my hotel room with a hell of a hangover and my phone ringing." We pull up to the ranch and Elena looks thoughtful. I shut the truck off and I'm about to get out when she stops me.

"What about the keychain?" She asks, pointing at my keys. "The pink one."

"Oh, you'll see, it'll all make sense later." I tell her smirking and climb out of the truck.

"Okay..." She gets out of the truck and I drop the tailgate, grabbing our things and letting Midnight out. He bounds off across the grass and into the barn.

"Damon. I'm surprised you're back here already." I turn around to see Mr. Rowan approaching us.

"Yeah, taking Elena for a ride. It's our favorite pastime." I explain.

"Hey, I have a question for you." He says and I nod. "I really like how timely you are on the road. My other guy is leaving, his wife is having a baby and he wants a more stable job." I already know where this is going, and I really don't want to discuss this in front of Elena right now. "I was wondering if you'd like to be my full time driver." He offers and I look at Elena, who's standing next to me, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Let me think about it." I tell him and Elena's lips quirk up.

"Sure, I'll give you a day or two. But I have to take horses out of town not this weekend, but next weekend and I'd sure love to have you along." He explains and I smile and nod.

"I'll think it over." I tell him again. He smiles and heads back towards the trailer that doubles as an office. I take Elena's hand and we walked into the barn.

"You should take the job." She tells me as I set down our things and head into the tack room.

"We will talk about that later." I reply, grabbing the saddle and bridle. She grabs Mints harness and lead rope and walks with me to his stall. She leads him into the aisle and starts brushing him down. I can't help it, for some reason, I want to watch her. I do it every time she brushes him. She so gentle, but very efficient, and I can't look away. So I lean against his stall and just watch her, the way her hair falls over her shoulder as she moves lower. She eventually notices me watching, she smiles and shakes her head.

"You do this every time I brush him, I don't get why." She says, stopping what she's doing to face me.

"I'm not sure why myself. I just love the way you handle him." She smiles and gets back to work.

"I think I know what this is about." She says quietly as I adjust the girth on the saddle. I smirk because I'm sure she's thinking the same thing that I thought when Katherine told me to make it romantic. She thinks I'm going to propose. "But I don't wanna say it because I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Alright, we're ready to go." I tell her, choosing not to give any hints as to what I'm doing. I grab the cooler and the backpack and lead Mint out of the barn. Elena climbs up first and I hand her the cooler before climbing up behind her. We move at a slower pace than we usually do, so that Elena doesn't drop the cooler. The sun is filtering through the trees, reflecting off of Elena's brown hair. I lean in close, nuzzling my face in her hair and breathing in the smell of her shampoo. After a moment of riding along in companionable silence, I reach for the cooler, she resists a little.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Giving you a break. You have to steer the horse, let me hold the cooler." I tell her and she lets go.

"What if you fall off? It's harder to hold on with only one hand." She teases.

"I'll find a way to land on my feet. I'm like a cat, you know." I joke back. We can hear the rushing water in the distance and Elena turns Mint off of the trail that we were following. We reach the waterfall shortly after and she pulls the horse to a stop. It's weird to think that we'd only been here three times, when it feels like we'd been coming her for years. I hand her the cooler back and dismount, taking the cooler again. She follows me down and we walk over to a flat area next to the river mouth below the waterfall. I set our stuff down and she looks at me expectantly. "Close your eyes, baby." I whisper pulling her up against me.

"Okay." She replies, her breath quickening at my closeness. I love that I can still do that to her. I open the backpack and lay out the blanket, keeping a close eye on her to make sure she isn't peeking. I set the candles sporadically around the blanket, the sun is starting to set, so this is going to be just perfect. I light the candles, set out the food, pour the wine, always keeping an eye on Elena. She's swaying slightly from side to side as she waits on me and I chuckle a little at the sight. I make sure everything is perfect and then I pull the key out of my pocket, and in a split second decision, I drop it into her wine. I walk back over to her, placing my hands on her hips, slowly walking her toward the blanket, stopping her dead center. I look around and I'm ready. I reach down and pick up her wine glass, along with my own. I place her glass in her hands.

"Open your eyes." I say quietly and she slowly opens them, taking in the scene before her.

"How is that even though I helped put this together, it still feels like a total surprise." she says grinning at me, and I love seeing her this happy.

"Well, there is still a surprise, that you don't know about." She looks at me questioningly. "Elena, I keep thinking about this apartment you're looking for...and I can't even begin to picture you in a place that I'm not in. So, I wanted to ask you a question." She freezes and I really hope she's going to say yes. My heart is pounding and my palms are sweaty. "Will you move in with me?" I ask her and she stays quiet.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Hope you're prepared for a lot of smut!

I stood there, frozen, staring into her chocolate brown eyes, it felt like forever before any words came out of her mouth. I was about to give up and tell her nevermind when she finally spoke. "Yes." I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped.

"Really?!" I asked shocked, because after everything we've been through, I don't know how we're still together. She nods happily, tears forming in her eyes. I pull her to me and kiss her...hard. She holds her drink out to the side to avoid spilling it, giggling into our kiss.

"I was wondering how many times I'd have to fake moving out to get you to ask me. It was hard looking for an apartment and trying to lie about how many were available." She tells me and I laugh, she must have seen me coming with this a mile away.

"So, I want to make a toast." I say, holding my glass up. "To us." I say as she holds her glass up also and she just stares at the glass. I'm suddenly really glad that we brought white wine.

"Is that a key?" She asks, grinning at the glass. She fishes it out and reads the keychain. "I'll hold you in my heart...it matches that new keychain on your keys." She says, looking up at me again. "I love it!"

"I saw it and it immediately reminded me of us." I tell her, taking the keychain and drying it off on my shirt. When I hand it back to her, she sticks it in her jeans pocket. We toast to a new beginning and take a drink. I sit down, leaning up against a tree, Elena sits between my legs, leaning on my chest. The food and wine helps calm my nerves and I start to wonder what she would have said if I'd asked her to marry me. I run my fingers through her soft hair as we watch the candles flicker in the darkness. Mint lets out a soft snort, reminding us that he is there. I kiss the top of her head, debating on whether or not we should head back. I look at my phone and see that it's almost nine. We'd been here a lot longer than I thought, time goes by way too fast when I'm with her. Elena is holding the key in her hand, examing the keychain like it holds some secret message. I lean in close to her ear and whisper lovingly what she's wondering about. "It's the next step." She freezes and I can almost see the ear to ear grin that she's wearing.

"I can't wait." She says so quietly that I almost miss it. We eventually give in and get up, packing up our things and mounting the horse again. I ride up front this time, since it's so dark. Elena has one arm wrapped around me, the other is holding the almost empty cooler. Her cheek is pressed to my back and if it weren't for her tight grip on my shirt and the cooler, I'd almost think she was sleeping. When we reach the ranch and dismount, Elena lets out a huge yawn.

"We need to get you to bed." I tell her as I remove the saddle and bridle. She plops down on a bench, setting the cooler on the ground and ignoring the fact that the backpack is still on her back.

"I'm not sleepy." She defends, trying her best to look more awake. I just smile knowingly at her. I get Mint brushed down and return him to his stall, giving him his treat. I turn my attention to Elena, taking the stuff from her and walking out to the truck with her in tow. I put our stuff in the bed of the truck and go back to get Midnight, who we left in a stall. I load him into the truck bed too and by this time Elena is already curled up in the passenger seat, sleep threating to overtake her. I get in, start the truck, and turn the radio down low as Elena passes out. The drive home is ridiculously quiet and it gives me time to think some things through. I could drive the horses to the out of town shows, but I wouldn't want to do it unless I could take Elena with me. I'll have to talk to Mr. Rowan in the morning and see if I can't work something out. I'm pretty sure that that was the last horse show for the summer. The rest should be on weekends only and not to far away, so that they don't get in the way of school. I pull up to the apartment around ten and I wake Elena up, not the easiest task, and unload all of our things. Midnight follows us up to the apartment and I open the door, letting him bound inside like he always does. Elena is like a zombie at this point, walking slowly into the bedroom. I just let her as I unpack the cooler and the backpack, giving her less to do tomorrow, since she has class bright and early and I kept her up kind of late.

"Are you coming?" I hear her call a moment later.

"Yeah, I'm done cleaning up." I respond, walking into the bedroom. She's already stripped out of her clothes and is wearing one of my shirts and a pair of lacy underwear. I strip off my shirt, shoes, socks, and jeans on my way to the bed. I decide to shower in the morning, because I'm kind of tired myself. I crawl into bed next to her and she lays her head on my chest before quickly falling back asleep. I smile at how cute she is when she's exhausted and then close my eyes, letting sleep take me.

I'm up at five in the morning, Elena is laying on top of me, her hair falling over my shoulder. I hate to wake her up, but I'm not really sure how to get her off of me without waking her up. Honestly, I don't want to move her off of me, but I have to get to work and I need a shower. I slowly roll to my side, keeping a firm grip on Elena. I have her completely on her back and I'm about to get up when she grabs my arm. "Don't go." She mumbles.

"I have to, baby. I have to go to work. Go back to sleep." I tell her, taking her hand in mine and kissing it. She smiles with her eyes closed and I set her hand down and head to the dresser. I grab some clothes and head into the bathroom. When I come out of the bathroom, Elena is on the phone with someone. I stop just inside the bedroom door and listen to her conversation.

"I understand you guys are just friends. I just don't like that you both lied to me for months. You're my sister, you are supposed to tell me when you spend time with my boyfriend." She gets quiet for a moment. "I would love to spend time with you. What did you have in mind?" Does this mean that they are going to talk about me some more?

"Alright, I'll ask Damon if he is up for it tonight. So, this is Stefan from camp right?" I'm not sure that I wanna see that little shit head right now, but I guess for Elena's sake, I need to agree to whatever it is that they are plotting. She gets off the phone a moment later and I walk back into the bathroom and pretend to be fixing my hair.

"I'm almost ready to go. I'm surprised you're up." I say when she appears in the mirror.

"My phone rang, otherwise I wouldn't be. Speaking of which, Katherine invited me and you to dinner with her and Stefan." She says casually, walking up behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Tonight?" I ask, thinking that they would have at least given me and Elena a couple of nights alone together.

"Yep." She says popping the 'p'. "I thought that since we were going to be with them tonight, I'd come by the ranch on your lunch break. That way we get at least a little alone time together." I turn in her arms so that I'm facing her. She looks up at me expectantly and I smirk, it's been way too long since I've seen my girlfriend naked. I wonder briefly if I can get away with it in the back seat of my truck.

"Sounds good." I tell her and then pull her up against me so that she can feel how hard I am just looking at her. She lets out a gasp and her face flushes. "I've gotta get to work." I let go of her and walk past her into the bedroom.

"That wasn't fair." She calls after me as I stick my phone and keys in my pocket.

"I just want you to know how much I'm going to miss you today." I say innocently and walk from the bedroom into the kitchen. I grab a bottle of water and an apple for breakfast. We'd forgotten to get the coffee ready the night before, so I'm going to have to go without. She laughs and follows me to the front door.

"Well, I'm going to have to do the same on your lunch today then." She teases and I hug her before opening the door. She grabs me by the front of my shirt and pulls me in for a kiss. "Tell your boss that your taking the job. I'm okay with it because now I know that you'll come home to me afterwards." She tells me and practically shoves me out the door.

"I love you!" I call out.

"I love you too!" And the door closes. I can't for the life of me figure out why she shoved me out the door so quickly, until I look at my phone and realized that I was running a few minutes late.

"Shit!" I practically ran to my truck and booked it down the road. I pulled into the ranch a minute after seven. I hop out of the truck, feeling a little empty handed without Midnight, but I was giving him some time to get used to staying home with Elena. I walked into the barn, swinging my keys around my finger, feeling happy and refreshed and ready to do my job. I started off cleaning the stalls, singing and dancing around as I worked, and then began brushing the horses. I was in such a good mood and moving so quickly that I was done with my morning work by ten-thirty. I cleaned the aisle after taking the horses out and picked up my phone to call my boss. "Damon, is everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, everything is great, horses are out, barn is clean. I just called to talk to you about the driving job." I tell him, pacing up and down the aisle of the barn. This sudden burst of energy I'm having is wonderful, but I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's normal. All I ate for breakfast was an apple, maybe I'll eat apples more often.

"Sure, are you interested?" He asked, clearly hopeful.

"Yes, but I need to know that during the school year, I'll only be gone on the weekends." He's quiet for a moment thinking it over.

"Yeah, I think there's maybe one or two where we might have to leave on a friday afternoon, but other than that it should be fine." He tells me and I fist pump, quietly.

"Okay, then I'm definitely interested. I would love to be your new driver, sir."

"Okay, welcome aboard." He tells me. I'm grinning like an idiot when Elena walks into the barn and my grin is contagious. She starts smiling too, and mouthing 'what?' to me. I tell my boss goodbye and end the call.

"I got the job and it's pretty much only on the weekend. That means that if you don't have too much homework, you can come with me. We'll get to travel a little bit. Maybe I can even got to a concert or two with you." I tell her as I wrap her in a hug. She hugs me back and slips a hand under my shirt, sending electricity up my spine.

"That's great, baby. I can't wait, we'll have to start planning for some of these trips." She tells me as her hand moves around to my stomach, grazing the waistband of my jeans. My cock jumps to attention, but I do my best to ignore it.

"Let's go for a ride." I tell her as I slip out of her arms. I know she's looking at me like I'm crazy as I walk down the aisle towards the tack room. It's okay with me, because by the time the night is over, she is going to want to jump me on the living room floor.

"Now?" She asks, clearly frustrated.

"Yes now. It's what we do on my lunch break, it's what we've always done." I grab Mint's saddle and bridle and walk over to his stall, Elena glaring at me the whole time. "Are you coming, or am I riding alone?" I ask her and she flushes and then nods. I turn back to the horse before smirking. It's going to be an awesome dinner. I'm thinking sex in the bathroom part way through dinner. I saddle Mint up quickly and we head out into one of the pastures to ride. I take my time, trying not to think about how bad I want her and taking up as much time as possible. When we finally put Mint back in his stall, Elena pulls out the lunch she made for us and we sit in the barn to eat.

Elena leaves while I get back to work, she has class for the next hour or two. I hurry through my work to get done early and make it to dinner. I finish around five thirty, definitely a record for me, and I run to my truck. I skid out of the driveway and rush towards the apartment. I still have to shower and get dressed and dinner is at six-thirty. Elena texted me the details while I was working. I burst into the apartment and it's completely quiet. I set my keys on the table by the door and walk into the kitchen, Midnight following me, wagging his tail. I continued through the kitchen into the bedroom to find the bathroom door closed and light streaming out from under it. I decided to go ahead and strip down for my shower. I pulled my shirt over my head and started unbuttoning my jeans when I heard a noise come from the bathroom. I froze and walked closer to the door, leaning my head against it so I could hear better. A very distinct and familiar moan reached my ears and my body reacted immediately. It took everything in me not to burst through the door and take her. This was going to be a long dinner for me, not her, like I intended.

"Oh, god!" That was it, I had to leave the room. I buttoned my pants up and walked back into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of bourbon. I was standing at the counter, downing my second glass when I heard the bathroom door open. The scent of her jasmine shower gel reached me and as stupid as it sounds, I almost came undone right then and there. I let out a strangled groan, still picturing her pleasuring herself, her body dripping water, and her head thrown back in ecstasy. I poured myself another glass and threw it back really quick, and then walked to the sink and set my glass in it. I couldn't exactly get drunk at the time, since we were about to go to dinner. I walked into the bedroom slowly, looking around to figure out where she was. If she was still naked, I'd be done. I kind of felt like a kid back in highschool after seeing a really hot girl. I shook my head to clear it and peeked into the open bathroom door. She was standing in front of the mirror, she had her underwear on, but that was it. I really needed to get in the shower, but I was painfully hard and I didn't want Elena to know. She would take full advantage of it and attempt to drive me even crazier.

"Are you done in the bathroom?" I asked, my voice coming out raspy. I stood out of her sight, clutching my clean clothes to my crotch.

"Yeah, I'll be out in just a sec." She said taking just a moment longer before walking out. She looked at me and frowned. "Are you okay?" She asked genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm great." That came out a little husky. I smiled at her and rushed into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. I set my clean clothes on the counter and was out of my pants faster than I've ever been. I let out a sigh of relief, my jeans were way too tight for way too long. I started the shower back up and made sure the water was warm before climbing in. I washed my hair in a hurry, since I'd spent so much time waiting for Elena to get out of the shower. Then I scrubbed my body down, getting rid of the smell of horses. I could hear Elena moving around the bedroom, which meant that she'd be able to hear me if I did anything. Then I smiled, because that's exactly what I was going to do. Then I'd be the calm one through dinner and she'd be very worked up. I rinsed off, making sure my body was clean, before leaning my back against the cool tile wall.

My imagination kicked in full swing and I could picture Elena dropping to her knees in front of me as I wrapped my hand around my dick. She smiled up at me as she wrapped one of her hands around the base and then her tongue snaked out to run across the slit at the tip. I moaned, my head falling back against the wall, and then she slowly swirled her tongue around it and then took me in her mouth. I let out a ragged breath as my cock hit the back of her throat. As she pulled away, she gently grazed her teeth along the sensative skin and I was sure my knees were going to buckle any second. When she reached the tip, she sucked hard before letting it slip out of her mouth. Then she was on me again, only she was moving faster, her tongue massaging my length as she moved. I was breathing heavily now and the occassional moan slipped out as she brought me closer to my climax. I heard the door click open right as I lost control and came hard. "Fuck, Elena." I groaned and then let myself go.

It took me a minute to come back to myself and when I did, could see Elena standing in the bathroom, throught the shower curtain. She must have realized that I saw her, because she quickly left the bathroom. I turned the water off and grabbed a towel, drying myself off before I got out of the shower. I wrapped the towel around my waist and stood in front of the mirror to comb my hair. I got dressed, put on some cologne, and took one last look in the mirror. I looked pretty good, or at least I thought so. I walked out of the bathroom and Elena wasn't there, I walked over to the bed and sat down, pulling on my socks and shoes. I grabbed my leather jacket from the closet, since it was starting to get cool outside at night and walked into the kitchen. My eyes landed on Elena who was blushing six shades of red and my jaw dropped. She was in black strapless dress that stopped above her knees and a pair of black knee high boots, giving me just a peek of her perfectly toned legs. Her hair was wavy instead of straight, like usual, in fact, she sort of resmembled her sister. The only way to tell the difference was that look that Elena always had in her eyes. Right now though, it was masked by a look that I'd become very familiar with. It was more intense this time though, her eyes were dark, and filled with lust, her hands gripping the glass of wine she was holding. I noticed that the glass was almost empty already and she was just staring at me.

"We have to go to dinner." I remind her and she blinks and its like she came back from whatever lust filled world she'd been in. She nods and bites her lip before grabbing her clutch and walking towards the door. I follow after her like she's got me on a leash, my eyes wandering to her ass and the watching the way her hips move. I realize that I'm not being much of a gentleman, so I grab my keys and catch up to her at the door, holding it open so she can walk out. Once we're both out the door, I take her hand and nestle it in the crook of my arm. She looks at me and smiles and I can't for the life of me, figure out why she's being so quiet. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah." She breathes out and that look is back in her eyes. It's going to be a very long dinner. When we reach the truck, I open the door for her and then run around to me side and climb in. The drive to the restaurant is short, way too short, and I feel kind of bad for intentionally working her up like that. But it's too late to do anything about it. I park next to Katherine's corvette, and shut the truck off. "Let's get this over with." Elena says suddenly determined, and climbs out of the truck. I follow suit, a little worried about Elena's mental state.

"You know, if you really aren't in the mood to be here, then we can back out. I'm sure that Katherine and Stefan would love to have a romantic evening alone." I tell her as I catch up to her, her heels clicking loudly on the the pavement. She rounds on me a look of fire on her face.

"What I really want to do, Damon..." She whispers, pressing her body up against mine. "Is take you into the bathroom here, shove you up against a wall and fuck you till your knees buckle." She says fiercely. I swallow hard and my cock jumps to attention. She looks down and smiles triumphantly.

"I can't go inside like this." I whisper back to her and she just raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"You pulled some really dirty tricks today Mr. Salvatore. Payback is a bitch." She tells me and for a moment she looks just like Katherine and I don't like it.

"Fuck." I walk back towards the truck, leaving her standing in the middle of the parking lot. I lean my forhead against it, taking deep breaths and picturing things that have the opposite effect on me. I just barely managed to calm down when I hear Katherine's voice.

"Are you guys coming inside or is Damon going to sleep standing up over there?" She asks impatiently. Before I can answer she turns to Elena. "I like your dress, reminds me of my taste in clothes." Elena looks at me like why didn't I tell her and I just shrug. I collect myelf and walk over to where they're standing. Katherine smiles at me and leads the way back inside. Stefan is sitting at a booth in the corner, not far from the bar, or the dance floor. I wasn't aware that this was that kind of place, it sounds so quiet outside. The inside though is pulsing with music, waiters weaving through the crowds to serve delicious looking food. We follow Katherine to the booth and I let Elena slide in first and then I sit next to her, Katherine rejoining Stefan on his side of the table. He gives me a warning look and I smirk at him before looking at Elena with desperately hungry eyes. When I look back at him, he's blushing and looks away. Maybe I'll get a break from his teenage drama crap. The waitress appears at our table with a cheery smile on her face.

"What can I get ya'll to drink?" She asks loudly over the music. Her eyes meet mine and her cheeks turn red, I just smile at her before looking at Elena.

"I'll have a dirty martini." Katherine pipes up and the waitress nods. Stefan orders a beer and again I wonder why all these places are serving minors. Elena gets a glass of white wine and I order my usual bourbon. I debate on letting Elena drive home, since this will be my third drink tonight and I'll probably have a fourth later. After the waitress walks away I turn my attention to Elena.

"How is it that you and your sister are so good at getting bars to serve you alcohol when you're underage?" I whisper and she smiles.

"It's all about confidence." She tells me and I nod. I turn back to Katherine and Stefan to start a conversation when Elena leaned in close to my ear. "It's also a little about what you wear." She whispered and shivers ran down my body.

"So, what have you two been up to?" I ask and clear my throat.

"Other than getting into trouble, not much." Katherine replies.

"I thought I told to you to stay out of trouble." I tease and Katherine laughs.

"What about you and Elena, what have you guys been up to?" Katherine asks, turning the tables.

"I asked Elena to move in with me." Of course Katherine already knew that I was going to do that.

"And I said yes." Elena added. Katherine was beaming now as she looked back and forth between us.

"Oh my gosh! That's awesome! How did you do it? Was it romantic?" She asked excitedly just as the waitress brought us our drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked and we all looked a little guilty because no one was paying attention to the menu except for Stefan.

"We need a minute." I told her and winked, she blushed again and hurried away from the table. Elena gave me a reprimanding look and I just smiled at her and picked up my menu. Once we all knew what we wanted, Elena engaged Stefan in conversation since no one else had.

"What's going on in your life Stefan, I haven't seen you since camp ended." She asks and takes a drink of her wine. I have a flashback of Stefan flirting with Elena during the time that we were drifting apart and I have the sudden urge to distract her, but I don't.

"Well, I applied to a school in Texas. Katherine doesn't want me to go, but I really like the school and the classes they offer." He tells her and I can tell by the look on Katherine's face that he's breaking her heart by leaving. The waitress returns to the table to take our orders and Elena looks deep in thought, I wonder if she is as concerned about her sister as I am. We put in our orders and then the table is quiet.

"I took a job driving horses to shows, Elena and I are going to take advantage of it and travel a little." I speak up, trying to break the ice that appeared out of no where.

"That sounds like a lot of fun." Katherine adds.

"Hey Kat, I have a question for you." I say suddenly, because I want to know how she knew that Elena had seen the picture. Her timing during our fight had been impeccable.

"Shoot." She says, playing with her napkin.

"How did you know that Elena had seen the picture on facebook and how did you get there so quick?" I ask and for a second she looks worried, but the look is gone in a flash.

"Well, I was in a nearby coffee shop, having my morning coffee before class. I got on my phone to check my facebook, like most of america does on a regular basis. I saw the picture and panicked. I was texting Stefan and telling him to take it down, when I saw that Elena had gotten online. I freaked out, because I knew you were going to tell her that we'd been hanging out, and I wanted it to come from you, not facebook. So, I shot Stefan one last text and hurried over to your place. She must have been looking at it for a while, because you guys were just starting to argue when I walked in." She explains and Stefan has a guilty look on his face.

"So you were going to tell me?" Elena asks, with surprised look on her face.

"Of course I was going to tell you, I just wanted it to be in person, because it was a lot to take in." I reassure her and she smiles at me.

"No more lies now, right?" She asks.

"No more lies, ever again." She kisses me softly and both Stefan and Katherine look away. Our food arrives at this time and the waitress doesn't look as happy as she was before. She set's our plates in front of us and we dig in, everyone quiet for the time being. The food here was amazing and I'm wondering how I didn't know about this place. Elena's hand comes to rest on my thigh and it sends tingles through my leg. I can't wait until we get home. We finish our food and I'm thinking that we finally reached the point in the night where we say goodbye until Katherine speaks up.

"Hey Elena, have you ever danced with Damon?" She asks with a smirk on her face and I want to hide under the table because I'm sure that she's going to tell her all about the night at the bar that I don't remember.

"Actually, no I haven't. The one night that I was supposed to dance with him, he took off to a bar." She's says sassily. I roll my eyes because this is going to be a horrible conversation.

"Well, I was thinking that we're at a bar now, and I'm sure he'd love to have that dance with you now. Why don't you show Damon just how good of a dancer you are?" Katherine suggested. This conversation just took an unexpected turn, was Elena a really amazing dancer and I just didn't know it?

"I don't know if he's ready for that. I wasn't sure back at camp either. Do you think I should?" Elena is grinning from ear to ear and I know there is something that I'm missing.

"I think you need to, you can't move in with a guy who's never seen you dance." Katherine says, resting her chin on her upturned palm. Elena turns her great big grin on me and I'm suddenly a little nervous. I scoot out of the booth, because I'm sure that's what she's waiting for. She gets up after me and takes my hand in hers, walking backwards to the dance floor, pulling me along. I'm really nervous, I can two step like no one's business, but this isn't country music, or even close. The beat is pretty fast and sensual, the words even more so. She stops in the middle of a large group of people, so we are lost in the crowd. At first I'm relieved because then Stefan won't see, but then I realize that Stefan and Katherine followed us. They place me and Stefan strategically, so that we are facing each other and they are standing with their backs to our fronts. Stefan is grinning like an idiot, so I have a feeling he knows what's coming and enjoys it. I run my hand through my hair as Elena and Katherine make eye contact. Their actions mirror each other as Elena presses her back to my front and wraps her arms around my neck and sways gently as she drops lower to the ground. She comes back up and does it again and I know I'm in trouble. Her hands run lightly down my chest each time she goes down. I glance at Stefan because I'm not a hundred percent sure what I'm supposed to do. He has his hands on Katherine's hips, running them up her side as she drops to the floor.

This time when Elena comes back up, I put my hands on her hips, but she turns in my arms. She winks at me as she presses her body against mine, gripping my hips and this time she takes me down with her. It's the most erotic thing I've ever done fully clothed. My thigh comes up between her legs and she flushes with arousal, which sets my body on fire. She brings me back up again and then takes me back down. It's like a major tease of what's to come and I want nothing more than to make all these people disappear and take her on the dance floor. She turns in my arms again as we come back up and I realize that Katherine is still mirroring her. I notice that Stefan has that same reddish hue to his face and I wonder if this is what teenagers do for fun now. Because when I was in highschool, we two stepped. I'm thinking this over when suddenly Elena bends at the waist, her hands on her knees, and her ass pressed into my crotch. I bite back a moan as she flips her hair our of her face before coming up standing again. How do they do this and not run off to have sex two seconds in?

Elena is dropping down in front of me again and this time I'm running my hands up her sides, brushing the sides of her breasts and then running them up her arms. My breathing is labored as I practically make love to her on the dance floor. She turns in my arms again and we're moving together, bodies flush, legs intertwined, she's peppering kisses on my neck, jaw, and cheeks. I'm rock hard between us and I know she feels it, everytime we move down her breath hitches and her mouth opens just a little. I want to get her out of here now, even if it's just to the truck. I need her somewhere where I can be inside of her, this dance is torture. My eyes meet Katherine's for a second and she winks at me, she most definitely planned this, probably to make up for her boyfriends mistake. Her face goes serious afterwards, her cheeks flushing and I feel like I stumbled into an orgy and didn't even realize it. When we come back up again I have to get her out of here. "Elena, we need to leave." I tell her firmly.

"Why, aren't you having fun?" She asked confused.

"Of course I am, this is just a lot more than I know what to do with. I need to leave, I need to be alone with you." I explain the best I can.

"I'm not ready to go yet." She pouts. That's it, that's all I can take. I pull her up against me, my erection pressing into her and kiss her hard, biting her lip. I pull back when I know that she's gotten the point.

"I'm gonna take you right here on the dance floor, in front of all of these people." I tell her harshly, still holding her to me. I was raised in a modest place, this was never done on any dance floor I'd ever been on. I was raised to keep my distance and be a gentleman. This is too much all at once for me. I can't handle moving against her like this and not having the privacy to take off her clothes. Elena nods in understanding and drags me off of the dance floor without explanation to Katherine. She goes to the table and checks the tab. I slip it out of her fingers and pull out my wallet. I drop enough money on the table to cover everyone and pull Elena through the crowd to the door. We walk out into the night air and it immediately cools my skin. Elena falls into step beside me. She peeks up at me, and I'm sure she thinks I'm mad, but I'm far from it. I'm about to explode from sexual tension, it makes me seem angry. We reach the truck and I unlock it, opening the back door. Elena looks at me, clearly confused. I look around and no one is to be seen. We're far enough away from the club that no one is even parked by us, except for Katherine.

I grip Elena's hips and press her back against the side of the truck, sandwiching her between my body and the truck. She gasps and I press my lips to hers, running my tongue along the seam of her lips. She parts them for me and my tongue slips into her mouth and she massages it with her own. The kiss is getting really heated, Elena is rolling her hips against mine and moans are escaping both of us. My hands are moving on their own now, slowly pushing her dress up her thighs.

"Oh my gosh!" I hear someone yell. I pull back suddenly, my hands dropping to my sides. Elena blushes, but it's barely noticeable over the flush of her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, we thought you guys left. So we were going to go back to my place. If we'd known, we would have waited a while." Katherine rambles and Stefan is looking away. I smile because he knows better that to look at Elena in this condition. Elena smooths her dress before speaking.

"It's okay, we uh, got a little carried away. I think we're just going to head home now." Elena explains. Katherine's gaze keeps dropping and I find it odd until I remember that I'm rocking a hell of a boner. I blush this time and start walking towards the drivers side of the truck.

"Bye Katherine." I say and disappear to the other side and attempt to adjust my pants around my painful hard on.

"Bye Damon, Elena." I hear her say and I climb into the truck, quickly followed by Elena. We pull out of the parking lot, followed by the red corvette that turns in the opposite direction.

"I think we just gave Katherine and Stefan a good show." Elena says giggling a little.

"It's a good thing they walked up, because otherwise, they would have gotten the whole show." I tell her and she blushes.

"I think I definitely trust you when you say nothing happened between you and Katherine." She informs me.

"Why?"

"Because the look on her face when she saw the front of your jeans said it all." I can't help but chuckle at that, but I blush too, because I'd never seen Katherine that way and I'm sure she wasn't wanting to see that. We drove in silence after that, but Elena fidgeted nervously the whole time. When I parked outside the apartment, we both jumped out of the car and speed walked to the stairs. We took them two at a time, which was quiet a show for me, because Elena's dress kept riding up, exposing a little more of her soft, tanned, thighs. That just made me all the harder though and I was pretty sure that I'd never been this hard before in my life. I managed to get the door unlocked, even around Elena's body which was between me and the door. Her lips already soothing the heated skin on my neck. I walked her through the door and spun us around, shutting the door and pressing her up against it. She hitched her leg up over my hip and I held it there, grinding into her roughly. She was moaning loudly now, her head resting against the door. I had the hem of her dress up around her waist, her panties being the only thing between my jeans and her wet centre. Her hands were moving slowly down my chest while I kissed her neck, running my tongue across the line where her dress met her skin.

"I want you in me now!" She said demandingly. I slipped my fingers into the waistband of her panties and slipped them down her thighs, letting them drop to the floor. I let go of her leg so she could step out and while she did that, I undid my jeans and pushe them down to my knees. I press her up against the door again, my cock sliding against her hot, wet pussy. I groaned and tried to get control of myself as I gripped her hips, lifting her off the ground. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I slid her onto me, without warning, causing her to cry out. "Oh fuck!"

Elena moves up and down, simultaneously rolling her hips, and I'm so hot for her now that I don't recognize the sound coming out of my mouth. "Oh god, you feel so damn good, Elena." I mumble and then she just moves faster, I'm throbbing painfully inside of her, just barely holding off my climax.

"Damon, Damon, we're gonna fall." She says breathlessly and she's right my legs are shaking, fixing to give out. I turn us around and lean my back against the door, slowly sliding down it, landing on my knees. We hit the ground a little hard, ramming me up into her.

"Uhhhh!" Her head falls back and I'm so close to losing it, I have to do something and fast, I can't hold off much longer. I carefully laid her back on the floor, never disconnecting our bodies, she caught on fast and started thrusting up to meet me the moment her back hit the floor. I slid one hand under her back to hold her in place. I made eye contact with her, trying to convey the message that I was going to be a little rough. She looked at me for a second, frowning, and I'm not sure how she figured it out, maybe it was the look in my eyes. She nodded and I braced myself on my left arm and slammed into her hard, I did this over and over, listening to her cries of pleasure the whole time. I felt her tightening around my cock and her back arched up off of the floor, her hands trying to grip the carpet. I pressed my face into her chest as I followed her, my whole body tensing and my hips thrusting one last time, burying me deep inside her as I came hard. We laid on the floor for a while, panting hard, I was almost content to lay there on the floor with her, half naked, until Midnight appeared in my line of sight. I pulled Elena's dress down a little. "Are you worried your dog might see something?" She asked with a failed attempt at a giggle.

"It's just weird." I say managing to get to my feet and pull up my pants. I help Elena to her feet and she smooths her dress down and then picks up her discarded underwear. We walk into the bedroom and close the door behind us before stripping down. "Do you feel like wearing pajamas?" I ask casually, tossing my clothes into the hamper.

"Nope. I want skin on skin." She says and crawls up onto the bed, slipping under the covers. I smile, because there is no better way to fall asleep. I join her under the covers and pull her to me, so her back to is to my front, like on the dance floor. I kissed her shoulder and neck, while running my fingers through her wavy hair. She pressed her ass up against my already growing hard on. I knew we needed to go to sleep, but the way she's rubbing against me, I'd almost say, she wanted a round two. I nipped at her pulse point and her hips jerked. "Damon." It came out partly a moan and partly a warning. My erection is pressing into her ass and I'm not in control anymore. I move down a bit and then slide up into her. She moans again, but softly this time. I move in and out of her at a much slower pace, just enjoying the feel of her and the sounds she makes. My hands move over her stomach and breasts, not too rough, just exploring her body as I move in and out, making tender love to her.

"I love you Lena." I whisper in her ear, guiding her hips back to me. She moves her knee up close to her chest, giving me better access. I flex up into her again and she starts whispering to me.

"I love you too, Damon. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you." She pauses to let out a soft moan. "I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life wtih you, possibly even in this bed." She continues and then her back arches and her muscles spasm around me and fall over the edge with her again. Only this time, we fall asleep afterwards, too tired to even pull away from each other.

"Damon..." I open my eyes to Elena's husky voice. "You need to get up, your alarm went off a minute ago." My arm is wrapped around her waist and she sounds kind of funny. "Are you awake Damon?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm awake." I whisper, not wanting to get up out of bed.

"Okay, I, uh, you're..." She stumbles over her words and I frown, what is going on with her this morning? I start to move, so I can see her face and arousal shoots through my body and Elena moans, but she almost sounds like she's on the verge of being in pain.

"Oh god...fuck, are you okay?" I ask, realizing that I fell asleep inside of her, I must have gotten worked up just as she woke up.

"I'm okay, I'm just really really sore." She informed me and I believed her, she was intensely tight around me, I was definitely taking a cold shower this morning.

"I'm going to pull out and go take a shower, okay?" I ask her and she nods a little.

"I feel bad sending you to the shower." She says quietly and I curl back up to her back.

"Don't, your body needs a break, and honestly I think mine does too. But if I don't go do something, I don't think this will go away." I tell her, making her giggle and I can feel it in my cock. I let out a breath, trying to keep control of the situation.

"Okay, then I guess it's okay." She replies.

"I'm gonna pull out, okay?" I try again.

"Okay." She takes a deep breath, I'm sure it's in an attempt to relax her muscles and I do it quick, making sure that it I don't draw it out. She makes a noise like a strangled cry and I feel horrible for making her that sore, but she squeezes the shit out of my dick as I pull out. My whole body tenses and before I can stop it, I'm coming hard. Elena gets really still and I do the same after I'm done. I really hope that she didn't notice that. "Did you just? That fast?" I blush crimson, because I've never gotten off that fast before in my life.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, that isn't like me." I apologize. She giggles a little and it only makes it worse.

"Don't apologize, I'm just glad I could help you out there." She says and I kiss her cheek before rolling out of bed and walking into the bathroom. I showered and got dressed before rejoining Elena in the bedroom, she was still on the bed, but sprawled out now. She looked relaxed and on the verge of sleep again. I walked over to the bed, leaned over and kissed her cheek before leaving the room to make coffee. I went through the rest of the week on autopilot, work wearing me out enough that I was asleep by nine every night. Life was calm and good and I knew somehow that it wouldn't last long.


End file.
